Intraosseous pressure and pathologic changes in horses with navicular disease.

Navicular bone intraosseous pressure, gross pathologic, histologic, and histochemical data were collected from 8 horses with navicular disease and 4 control horses. Simultaneous navicular bone intraosseous, medial palmar arterial, and saphenous venous pressures were measured for the left and right forelimbs of each horse under general anesthesia. Gross pathologic evaluation included grading of changes on the flexor surface of the navicular bone. Safranin-O-fast green-stained sections were used for histologic-histochemical grading of the hyaline articular and fibrocartilage surfaces of the navicular bones. Hematoxylin and eosin-stained sections were used for morphologic evaluation of the marrow spaces of navicular bones. Mean navicular bone intraosseous pressure for horses with navicular disease was significantly (P < 0.001) higher than that for controls. Differences in medical palmar arterial or saphenous venous pressures were not significant between groups. The median flexor surface gross pathologic and histologic-histochemical fibrocartilage scores for horses with navicular disease were significantly (P < 0.001) more severe than those for control horses. The histologic-histochemical hyaline cartilage scores for control horses and those for horses with navicular disease were not significantly different. Fibrosis of the marrow spaces beneath the flexor cortex of horses with navicular disease was more pronounced than that of control horses.