Flagship equine hospitals get latest analysing technology for Cushing’s
VetPartners installs four new immunoassay analysers in the laboratories of Rossdales Veterinary Surgeons, Liphook Equine Hospital and Rainbow Equine Hospital.
Andy Durham, of Liphook, with lab technician Megan Noble.
A major veterinary care provider has invested in new technology to help three of its flagship equine hospitals improve their Cushing’s disease diagnostic capabilities.
VetPartners has installed four new immunoassay analysers in the laboratories of Rossdales Veterinary Surgeons in Suffolk, Liphook Equine Hospital in Hampshire, and Rainbow Equine Hospital in North Yorkshire.
The machines – Tosoh AIA-900 analysers – detect the concentration of insulin and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) in blood samples, used to diagnose Cushing’s disease (also known as pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction; PPID) and equine metabolic syndrome.
Improve accuracy
VetPartners said the technology will improve the accuracy of its hospitals’ blood tests and replace the testing equipment used in each of their labs.
Created for human laboratory use, the new analysers have been trialled at Liphook for the past 18 months to test the diagnostic benefits compared with pre-existing methods.
The Hampshire hospital, which became the first veterinary practice to introduce ACTH testing for horses 25 years ago, receives as many as hundreds of blood samples for testing each week by practices throughout the UK and across Europe.
Better results
Liphook clinical director Andy Durham, who heads up its laboratory, explained Tosoh AIA-900 analysers are less affected by degradation of ACTH in blood samples, and as such provide better results.
Prof Durham said: “The ACTH molecule we test for immediately begins to break down after a blood sample is taken, even if you handle it carefully and place it in chilled packaging, but this new analyser is able to detect much more of the degraded ACTH molecule, and therefore it gives a more accurate result.
“As a comparison, ACTH values measured using the previous method suffered about three to four times more degradation over 24 hours.
“What this means for horse owners is that it will reduce the risk of false negative results in ACTH tests, so more horses suffering from Cushing’s disease will receive the treatment they need.”
Adjusted ranges
One of the described benefits of the new analysers is reporting lower ACTH values than other diagnostic methods; as a result, Prof Durham and his team have adjusted ranges for PPID testing results accordingly and to account for seasonal ACTH level fluctuations.
The team also determined during the trial period that the machines can also measure insulin levels more accurately. PPID typically affects horses and ponies aged 15 years and older, and is caused by the pituitary gland over-producing hormones such as ACTH.
It can cause horses to have an increased risk of laminitis, and it is also believed that the most prevalent form of laminitis in the UK is associated with elevated insulin concentration in the blood.
