b'YOUR GUIDE TO THE 2017 AAEP CONVENTION SPONSORED BYTwo Ways to Heal WoundsSTACEY OKE, DVM, MSCProcuring, Preparing, and Applying Amnion for Equine Wound Healinging wounds, cast sores, and other L acerations, burns, chronic nonheal-skin-related ailments of the lower limb pose treatment challenges. The de-creased blood flow and dearth of soft tis-sue to help mend these wounds contribute to prolonged healing, poor aesthetics, and excessive granulation tissue (proud flesh).DAY 1 DAY 12 DAY 60COURTESY DR. ANNETTE MCCOYSo, vets are always on the hunt for The progression of healing from Day 1 to 60 of amnion treatment.treatments. Annette M. McCoy, DVM, MS, PhD, Dipl. ACVS, described how they can improve wound healing using a productMcCoy said vets can apply amnion toBVSc (Hons.), a research student at the that might seem more at home in thethe skin and allow it to desiccate (dry out).University of Sydney School of Veterinary neonatal wing of a clinic: amnion. However, she prefers to place the amnionScience, in New South Wales, Australia.Equine amnion, the relatively thickdirectly on the wound, under a bandageWhether different types of manuka innermost layer of the fetal tissues,thats changed every three to seven days.honey help heal wounds similarly and contains numerous biological moleculesWe have found equine amnion to be aif a certain special ingredient exists that promote tissue growth and woundvaluable addition to our toolkit for man- inmanuka honey and not in commer-healing, said McCoy, an assistant profes- aging wounds healing by second inten- cial honey remain to be determined. To sor of equine surgery at the University oftion, she said, referring to those woundshelp answer these questions, Tsang and Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine,whose edges cannot be sutured and, so,colleagues created full-thickness skin in Urbana. Examples include epider- must heal by adhesion ofgranulatingwounds (2.5 cm 2 ) on eight horses cannonmal growth factor, transforming growthsurfaces. She said the protocols for prepa- bones. and treated them with manuka factor-, and vascular endothelial growthration are easy to use and readily adapt- honey, multifloral (generic) honey, or a factor. In addition, amnion recruits stemable to a wide range of practice situations. saline control.cells to wound beds to facilitate healing.They found that wounds treated with Commercial equine amnion productsManuka Honey and Healing Time manuka honey healed faster than those are available as either a shelf-stable sheetIt can take a frustrating amount of timetreated with generic honey or saline. or a liquid; but, she said, during foalingand energy to treat some horse wounds Healing times were 90.78, 100.3, and season, fresh amnion is readily availableespecially those in challenging locations.101.36 days, respectively. and can be processed (ideally within anVets and owners alike are often willing toIt is possible that processing using hour of foaling) and stored for later use.try an array of salves, sprays, and dress- heat of generic honey may have inacti-One placenta can easily produce doz- ings to facilitate a positive outcome. Butvated some of the biologically active mol-ens of dressings that cost approximatelya researcher recently reminded practitio- ecules in honey that contribute to wound $1 each, which is far less expensive thanners to reach for a particular product, onehealing, he said.commercial dressings, she said. Con- that created some buzz a few years ago:Tsang also noted that the clinical effects sidering that many of these cases requireHoney, particularly manuka honey, canon healing naturally occurring wounds long-term care, the cost differential be- also help wound healing. caused by trauma and contaminated (as tween homemade amnion and commer- This type of honey has antibacte- wounds occurring in the field often are) cial dressings can be impressive.rial and immunomodulatory effects,might be even better than those observed She described two processing tech- and recent studies support the use ofin his study. The reason remains unclear. niques vets can use, along with the prosmanuka honey on wound healing in theThe researchers next step involves iso-and cons of each. Both protocols can beequine distal (lower) limba notoriouslylating manuka honeys bioactive constitu-performed quickly, with minimal setupchallenging location to treat effectivelyents with the goal of further improving and no specialized equipment, she noted. and economically, said Albert Tsang,equine wound healing.hMarch 2018THE HORSE AAEP Wrap-Up TheHorse.com/AAEP2017 A53'