Emil Olsen

• Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM), PhD, DACVIM-Neuro, DACVIM-LA
• Neurologist at IVC Evidensia

Background Reproducible and accurate recognition of presence and severity of ataxia in horses with neurologic disease is important when establishing a diagnosis, assessing response to treatment, and making recommendations that might influence rider safety or a decision for euthanasia. Objectives To determine the reproducibility and validity of the...

The aim of the study was to determine the intraarticular serum amyloid A (SAA) response pattern in horses with inflammatory arthritis. Inflammatory arthritis was induced by injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) into the radiocarpal joint of four horses. Serum and synovial fluid (SF) samples were collected before and at 4, 8, 12, 24, 48, 72, 96, and...

Background: Cerebellar abiotrophy (CA) is an uncommon hereditary neurodegenerative disorder affecting the cerebellar Purkinje cells. Equine CA has been reported in several breeds, but a genetic etiology has only been confirmed in the Arabian breed, where CA is caused by an autosomal recessive mutation. Case presentation: Clinical and histologica...

Simple Summary The one marker that we routinely use to diagnose kidney disease in horses (creatinine) is not an ideal marker. Having additional biomarkers in blood and urine that can be measured could be beneficial. This review assesses available literature on new equine kidney biomarkers, and the authors suggest recommendations for clinical use in...

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is rare in horses with an overall prevalence reported to be 0.12%. There is often a continuum from Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) to CKD, and patients with CKD may be predisposed to episodes of AKI. The most common clinical signs are non-specific with weight loss, polyuria/polydipsia and ventral edema. Less common clinical s...

Caudal epidural analgesia is a well‐established therapeutic modality for pain alleviation in horses. Additionally, epidural analgesia could potentially be a complementary diagnostic tool for confirmation of pain‐related conditions in horses presenting with nonspecific signs of poor performance or rideability issues. To use the epidural as a diagnos...

Exercise induced intermittent dorsal displacement of the soft palate (DDSP) is a common cause of airway obstruction and poor performance in racehorses. The definite etiology is still unclear, but through an experimental model, a role in the development of this condition was identified in the dysfunction of the thyro-hyoid muscles. The present study...

Neurofilaments (NFs) are structural proteins of neurons that are released in significant quantities in the cerebrospinal fluid and blood as a result of neuronal degeneration or axonal damage. Therefore, NFs have potential as biomarkers for neurologic disorders. Neural degeneration increases with age and has the potential to confound the utility of...

The dorsal cricoarytenoid (DCA) muscles, are a fundamental component of the athletic horse’s respiratory system: as the sole abductors of the airways, they maintain the size of the rima glottis which is essential for enabling maximal air intake during intense exercise. Dysfunction of the DCA muscle leads to arytenoid collapse during exercise, resul...

Background The original equine sepsis score provided a method of identifying foals with sepsis. New variables associated with sepsis have been evaluated, but the sepsis score has not been updated. Objectives To evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of 2 updated sepsis scores and the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) criteria in reg...

Background: Agreement amongst experienced clinicians is poor when assessing presence and severity of ataxia, especially when signs are mild. Consequently, objective gait measurements might be beneficial for assessment of horses with neurological diseases. Objectives: To assess diagnostic criteria using motion capture to measure variability of sp...

The current study aimed at the investigating the potential use of phosphorylated neurofilament H (pNF-H) as a diagnostic biomarker for neurologic disorders in the horse. Paired serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples (n = 88) and serum only (n = 30) were obtained from horses diagnosed with neurologic disorders and clinically healthy horses as c...

Background Chiari-like malformation in the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is a herniation of the cerebellum and brainstem into or through the foramen magnum. This condition predisposes to Syringomyelia; fluid filled syrinxes within the spinal cord. The resulting pathology in spinal cord and cerebellum create neuropathic pain and changes in gait. Thi...

Background: Arterial blood pressure (BP) is a relevant clinical parameter that can be measured in standing conscious horses to assess tissue perfusion or pain. However, there are no validated oscillometric noninvasive blood pressure (NIBP) devices for use in horses. Animals: Seven healthy horses from a teaching and research herd. Hypothesis/obj...

A thorough neurological examination of questionably ataxic horses is crucial to differentiate normal from abnormal and to help with neuroanatomical localization. Unfortunately agreement amongst experienced clinicians can be poor when assessing presence and severity of ataxia, especially when signs are mild; consequently, objective gait characteriza...

A 4-year-old Nigerian Dwarf goat presented with a long history of nonpruritic, scaly skin noticed since it was acquired at 3 weeks of age. Dermatologic examination revealed widespread large, white, nonadherent scales covering the entire skin. Histopathologic findings were characterized by noninflammatory compact diffuse orthokeratotic hyperkeratosi...

Reasons for performing studyLungeing is often part of the clinical lameness examination. The difference in movement symmetry, which is a commonly employed lameness measure, has not been quantified between surfaces. Objectives To compare head and pelvic movement symmetry between surfaces and reins during lungeing. Study designQuantitative gait analy...

Data S2. Rater Questionnaire.

Data S1. Materials and Methods.

Table S1. Reliability results in the form of intraclass correlation coefficient for the dichotomous and categorical questions for gait assessment during the equine neurological examination assessed by four to six expert raters. See questionnaire (Data S2) for full details on the questions. Table S2. Reliability results as intraclass correlation co...

Objective lameness assessment on different surfaces is crucial for the diagnosis of lameness and the monitoring of treatment, especially in foot-related lameness where foot-surface interaction plays an important role.

Aims Lungeing on hard and soft surfaces is crucial to clinical lameness and prepurchase examinations. Here we 1) quantify movement symmetry (MS) in sound horses trotting on hard and soft surfaces, and 2) compare MS patterns for different rein and surface combinations between sound and mildly forelimb lame horses. Methods Twenty‐three riding horses...

Standalone 'low-cost' inertial measurement units (IMUs) could facilitate large-scale studies into establishing minimal important differences (MID) for orthopaedic deficits (lameness) in horses. We investigated accuracy and limits of agreement (LoA) after correction of magnitude-dependent differences of a standalone 6 degree-of-freedom IMU compared...

Recognising presence and severity of ataxia in horses with neurological disease is important for rider safety, in establishing the diagnosis and when determining response to treatments. Accurate and repeatable assessment is crucial for any clinical decision making, but is especially important when human safety and horse retirement or euthanasia are...

The increased variations of temporal gait events when pathology is present are good candidate features for objective diagnostic tests. We hypothesised that the gait events hoof-on/off and stance can be detected accurately and precisely using features from trunk and distal limb-mounted Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs). Four IMUs were mounted on the...

Amongst other tests, a thorough neurologic examination of horses may include walking with the head elevated and during blindfolding, in order to help differentiate normal from abnormal and to help with neuroanatomically localising any lesion(s) i.e. in the ataxic horse. Consensus amongst equine neurologists suggests that gait abnormalities associat...

Summary [English] Eosinophilic keratitis (EK) is a relatively rare ophthalmologic disease in horses with few reports in the literature. Etiology and pathogenesis are unknown. The clinical signs are single or multiple gelatinous proliferative sub epithelial plaques of the cornea expanding from the limbus. The diagnosis is based on the clinical sympt...

Organiske kemireaktioner fungerer primært som en notesamling, der omhandler de væsentligste organiske reaktioner. Bogen giver oversigt over bl.a. de organiske stofgruppers vigtigste reaktioner og stofgruppernes fysiske egenskaber. Endelig giver bogen også en del strukturformler for trivialnavne. Bogen er et godt supplement til andre lærerbøger i or...