In an unprecedented move, The Home of Rest for Horses has made two awards for clinical evidence this year. The awards are presented at this week's British Equine Veterinary Association conference.

The peer review panel of Professor Stephen May, past chairman of the Home's Scientific Sub-Committee, Celia Marr of Rossdale Veterinary Practice, Newmarket; Alistair Barr of Bristol University Veterinary School, Josh Slater of the Royal Veterinary College and Ian Camm of Bushey Equine Vets, were unable to separate papers on Oral hyaluronan gel and risk factors for colic.

BJ Bergin, SW Pierce, and LR Bramlage, all then of the Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky and A Stromberg of the Department of Statistics, University of Kentucky, submitted the paper "Oral Hyaluronan Gel Reduces Postoperative Tarsocrural Effusion in the Yearling Thoroughbred".

It reported their research into the efficacy of oral administration of hyaluronic acid (HA) to treat joint disease following arthroscopic surgery of osteochondritis dissecans (OCD) of the tarsocrural joint of yearling thoroughbreds. Only animals showing mild or no synovial effusion pre-surgery were selected for study. 57 joints were included from 48 horses, with 24 treated with 100g of HA orally for 30 days post-operatively and 24 treated with a placebo.

The trial confirmed anecdotal reports of the efficacy of HA administered orally in reducing joint effusion postoperatively.

MS Andersen, L Clark, SJ Dyson and JR Newton of the Animal Health Trust, Newmarket, submitted their clinical evidence paper on "Risk factors for colic in horses after general anaesthesia for MRI or nonabdominal surgery: absence of evidence of effect from perianaesthetic morphine".

Records of 553 anaesthetic and clinical records of 500 horses anaesthetised at the AHT were analysed. This showed that 7.1% of surgical cases developed colic post-anaesthesia compared with only 1.5% of animals subjected to magnetic resonance imagery (MRI) scanning. It also showed a significantly increased risk of colic associated with premedication with romifidine, maintenance of anaesthesia with isoflurane and the administration of benzyl penicillin and/or ceftiofur. The risk lessened with longer duration of anaesthesia and sedation within two days of anaesthesia. The use of perianaesthetic morphine did not contribute to any increase in risk.

The researchers at the AHT, while recommending a wider study of the issue, concluded that the potential benefits of reducing intraoperative and post operative pain must be weighed against any perceived risk of colic.

"Following our independent review of the papers submitted for the award, we ended up with a tie between these two papers and, having consulted about the possibility of breaking the first-place tie, decided unanimously that joint winners would be appropriate," said Prof May.