Trephination
Remember hearing about "ancient" cultures where they drilled holes in skulls to let the evil spirits escape? Trephination?
Well, Tuesday I bored a hole into our pony's skull using a 9/64" Steinmann pin.
Only, it's not as bad as it might sound. I entered the caudal maxillary sinus (which communicates indirectly with the nose), not the cranial vault. I flushed fluorescein dye through the hole, and saw it exit via the ipsilateral (that's a great word) nostril.
Why couldn't they have made the pin 1/8" instead of 9/64? Your guess is better than mine.
We also got to endoscopy our ponies -- we looked at the larynx, the ethmoid turbinates, and inside the guttural pouch (through which run five cranial nerves, the internal carotid artery, and the maxillary artery). As a side note, horses may bleed to death from the growth of fungal plaques on important arteries in that pouch.
Well, Tuesday I bored a hole into our pony's skull using a 9/64" Steinmann pin.
Only, it's not as bad as it might sound. I entered the caudal maxillary sinus (which communicates indirectly with the nose), not the cranial vault. I flushed fluorescein dye through the hole, and saw it exit via the ipsilateral (that's a great word) nostril.
Why couldn't they have made the pin 1/8" instead of 9/64? Your guess is better than mine.
We also got to endoscopy our ponies -- we looked at the larynx, the ethmoid turbinates, and inside the guttural pouch (through which run five cranial nerves, the internal carotid artery, and the maxillary artery). As a side note, horses may bleed to death from the growth of fungal plaques on important arteries in that pouch.
posted by Claire at 18:42
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