Übersicht über die aktuellen Therapiemöglichkeiten der Frakturen am Kopf des Pferdes

head on a hard surface during their fall. Injuries of the head range from small lesions, which may only be apparent as small indentations in the bone, to severe, multifragmented fractures with secondary involvement of vital structures such as teeth, sinuses, eyes, nerves or major blood vessels. The extent and type of these secondary lesions are usually the most important prognostic factors. Therefore, the description and understanding of head fractures requires a good working knowledge of the anatomy of the skull. The clinical signs of head fractures are manifold and depend on the location of the lesions. Computed tomography (CT) is a very useful diagnostic procedure that is often indicated for the assessment of complicated head injuries. It had the greatest impact in the management of diseases involving the head, particularly fractures, for horses. They are frequently more dramatic on CT images than on radiographs or as compared to what one would expect after external inspection. Nowadays most head fractures are treated surgically and generally the prognosis is very good. The majority of rostral fractures can be treated successfully with intraoral wiring. For fractures of the skull and sinuses a variety of special instruments for the repositioning and fixation of skull bone fragments have been developed in human medicine. Several of them, including extraction instruments and rosettes, are useful in equine surgery.