RESEARCH ARTICLE e

Abstract

Full list of author information is available at the end of the articleBackground Surgical intervention on distal extremities in horses is a standard of care for many orthopaedic conditions in-cluding splint bone fractures, condylar fractures, arthro-scopic joint revisions, and various other conditions [1-3]. While orthopaedic surgical procedures are well estab-lished, the medical management of pain and inflamma-tion resulting from such intervention remains to be an under-addressed field. The benefit of pain management during and after orthopaedic surgery is a matter of con-troversial discussion. In the past it has been suggested that analgesics be withheld in equine patients to main-tain protective reflexes and reduce the risk of injury [4], but more recently the utility of post-operative pain man-agement was emphasized [4-6]. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are ex-tensively used as analgesics in veterinary medicine, having proven efficacy in dogs and cats for post-operative pai