Comparison of planar digital radiography and helical standing computed tomography for assessment of condylar stress fracture risk in Thoroughbred racehorses

Background: Catastrophic injury has a low incidence but leads to the death of many Thoroughbred racehorses.
Objectives: To determine sensitivity, specificity, and reliability for condylar stress fracture risk assessment from fetlock digital radiographs (DR) and standing computed tomography (sCT).
Study design: Controlled ex vivo experiment.
Methods: A blinded set of thoracic limb fetlock DR and sCT images were prepared from 31 Thoroughbreds. Four observers evaluated the condyles and parasagittal grooves (PSG) of the third metacarpal bone for the extent of dense bone and lucency/fissure and assigned a risk assessment grade for condylar stress fracture. Sensitivity and specificity for detection of subchondral structural changes in the condyles and PSG and for risk assessment for condylar stress fracture were determined by comparison with a reference. Agreement between observers and the reference assessment and reliability between observers were determined. Intra-observer repeatability was..., Distal limb specimens were collected from catastrophically injured racing Thoroughbreds that were humanely euthanatized for reasons unrelated to this study and stored at -20C. Thoracic limb fetlock digital radiographs and standing computed tomography image sets were generated and blinded. Sensitivity and specificity for detection of structural changes in subchondral bone of the distal end of the third metacarpal bone as well as risk assessment for imminent injury from condylar stress fracture were estimated by four blinded observers. Reliability of estimations was also assessed., DICOM file sets can be evaluated using any standard DICOM viewer software., # Comparison of planar digital radiography and helical standing computed tomography for assessment of condylar stress fracture risk in Thoroughbred racehorses

These files contain folders with blinded DICOM digital radiography image sets and DICOM standing computed tomography image sets from 31 racing Thoroughbreds. These image sets were used for blinded evaluation of structural changes in subchondral bone of the distal end of the third metacarpal bone and for risk assessment for imminent condylar stress fracture injury.

These files enable any user of the data set to provide or undertake training in reading fetlock digital radiograph (DR) and standing computed tomography (sCT) image sets from Thoroughbred racehorses to improve clinical skills in detecting subchondral structural changes in the fetlock and predicting imminent risk of condylar stress fracture.

## Description of the data and file structure

-DR (digital radiography) image sets, sCT (standing computed tomography) image set...