Effects of intravenous flunixin meglumine, phenylbutazone, and acupuncture on ocular pain scores in the horse: a pilot study

Makra, Zita; Csereklye, Nóra; Matas, Marian; Mcmullen, Riera Richard; Veres-Nyéki, Kata

Abstract

In this controlled, blinded, randomized block pilot study the main objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of intravenous flunixin meglumine, phenylbutazone, and acupuncture on ocular pain relief using a multifactorial pain scale in the horse. Four experimental horses underwent corneal epithelial debridement in four sessions, when a randomly selected treatment or a control was used. All horses were pain-scored prior to corneal wounding, then at 18 time points, when 11 parameters were allocated. Differences in the area under the curve of pain scores between the treatment groups were analysed using a paired t-test. Corneal pain was significantly reduced by the third postoperative day (P= .03) when all 11 parameters were considered. Five ocular signs showed significant differences between treatments and proved to be good indicators of ocular pain. The other parameters (heart rate, corneal touch threshold, respond to palpation, and three behavioural parameters) were determined to be irrelevant when evaluating the degree of pain. When considering the five ocular signs, the lowest pain score was attributed to the flunixin meglumine group (1114), followed by the electroacupuncture group (1356), the phenylbutazone group (1397), and the control group (1580). There were significantly lower pain scores (P= .01) in the flunixin meglumine group when compared to those recorded in the control group during the first 46 hours. Flunixin meglumine was the most effective treatment at reducing ocular pain in the horse. In the future, a reduction in the number of pain-score parameters and more precisely defined image evaluation criteria could be utilized.

Citation

Makra, Z., Csereklye, N., Matas, M., Mcmullen, R. R., & Veres-Nyéki, K. (2021). Effects of intravenous flunixin meglumine, phenylbutazone, and acupuncture on ocular pain scores in the horse: a pilot study. Journal of Equine Veterinary Science,

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 1, 2021
• Publication Date: Jan 6, 2021
• Deposit Date: Jan 7, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 7, 2022
• Print ISSN: 0737-0806
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Keywords: cornea; electroacupuncture; pain score; nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug
• Public URL: https://rvc-repository.worktribe.com/output/1442897