Diagnosing Equine Asthma
Clinical history is critical to diagnosis. The horse with overt heaves, or recurrent airway obstruction (RAO) will have a history of having had a recurrent (hence the name) breathing problem,
Clinical history is critical to diagnosis. The horse with overt heaves, or recurrent airway obstruction (RAO) will have a history of having had a recurrent (hence the name) breathing problem,
Heaves, otherwise known as recurrent airway obstruction (RAO) and inflammatory airway disease (IAD), allergic airway disease, small airway disease and COPD are all diseases that fall under the spectrum of equine asthma.
The bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) allows us to see deep within the horse’s lungs to determine if there is inflammation and if so, what the inflammation looks like.
The job of the lungs is to deliver oxygen to the body and to take the carbon dioxide, which is a product of normal metabolism, away from the body – this is termed lung function.