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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Veterinary Imaging
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2024.1430993
This article is part of the Research Topic Monitoring and Reducing Errors in Veterinary Radiology View all articles

Evaluation of agreement for radiographic lesions and risk for racing on thoroughbred yearling sale repository radiographs Authorship

Provisionally accepted
Brodie J. Argue Brodie J. Argue *Benjamin J. Ahern Benjamin J. Ahern *
  • The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The veterinary yearling pre-sale repository radiographs have the potential to impact both vendor and prospective purchaser. The primary aim of this study was to determine interobserver agreement for orthopaedic lesions identified in thoroughbred yearling repository radiographs. A secondary goal was to determine agreement when using a pre-defined risk rating classification. Three experienced specialist equine surgeons (2 ACVS & 1 FANZCVS) interpreted thirty repository radiographs once each for radiographic abnormalities. Each radiographic abnormality was given an associated risk assessment for future racing performance. The use of a pre-defined risk rating grading scale resulted in good to excellent agreement as observers reached a consensus on risk ratings for lesions 97.1% of the time.The highest agreement was for the proximal interphalangeal joint and distal interphalangeal joint, with 99.9% and 98.2% agreement, respectively. The tarsal region was the joint with the highest disagreement with respect to pathology, with observers disagreeing 5.2% of the time.This study found that experienced veterinary surgeons reliably agreed on the absence of lesions but showed disagreement on the specific risk rating of common lesions.

    Keywords: Yearling, prepurchase assessment, Thorougbred horses, Thoroughbred racehorse, Radiogaphy

    Received: 11 May 2024; Accepted: 27 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Argue and Ahern. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Brodie J. Argue, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
    Benjamin J. Ahern, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.