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Virginia Tech

The Chondroid Conundrum: Transpharyngeal Removal of Guttural Pouch Chondroids in Horses

Abstract

dc:description.abstractgeneral

Strangles is an extremely infectious disease of horses that has negative financial and health consequences. After infection, some horses form balls of concrete-like pus in a structure in an air-filled sac of the ear canal called guttural pouches (GPs). These concretions, called chondroids, allow affected horses to continue to pass on infection to other horses. Removal of chondroids is needed to stop disease transmission but current non-surgical and surgical removal techniques have limitations. Surgical laser passed through an endoscope (medical camera) allows minimally invasive surgery of the guttural pouches. We performed laser surgery on cadaver horse heads to create access to the GP, then evaluated our ability to remove chondroid-like beads from the GP using a custom-made 3D-printed instrument. Our results showed efficient and complete removal of the beads compared to lavage without the 3D-printed instrument, with little damage to the heads. These findings are an initial step to development of a new chondroid-removal technique and may allow surgeons to more efficiently remove chondroids without the need for invasive surgery.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Science
Level thesis:degree_level
masters
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Biomedical and Veterinary Sciences
Department dc:contributor.department
Biomedical and Veterinary Sciences
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2023

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Cardona, Guillermo Andres
Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Bogers, Sophie Helen
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Byron, Christopher R.
  • Dahlgren, Linda A.
  • McKenzie, Harold C.

Subjects

dc:subject × 5

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright
Language dc:language.iso
en

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
vt_gsexam:38288
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/116111

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Cardona, Guillermo Andres. The Chondroid Conundrum: Transpharyngeal Removal of Guttural Pouch Chondroids in Horses. masters thesis, Virginia Tech, 2023. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/116111