Equine veterinarian Alessandro Centinaio, is renowned as an expert in equine orthopedics. But his reach – and his ‘horse family’ – stretch far beyond that. He became involved in the world of competition, working for the Italian Federation for 12 years, and acting as team veterinarian for three Olympic Games and three World Equestrian Games.
It was during these first years working on the competition circuit that Dr. Centinaio had what he said was a ‘crazy idea’: a mobile ambulance for horses. “Today, it seems ‘normal’, but 30 years ago, it was completely unheard of,” he explains. From this brainstorm were born both the Horse Ambulance Group, which offers 24-hour emergency service, and the Mobile Clinic, which provides a series of services for horses at competitions.
There are now two Mobile Clinics, fitted with, amongst others, a laboratory for blood work, an ultrasound, and the Agfa DR and CR X-ray systems. “About 90% of the images can be handled by DR, which gives
us practically instant images. Speed of imaging is important for the welfare of the horse. DR has reduced the time for taking the full set of pre-purchase images from 1 hour, to 20 minutes.” explains Dr Centinaio. “But if a horse is injured in the arena and we need to take images without moving the animal, then CR is more appropriate.”
However, says Dr. Centinaio, when dealing with these cherished animals, the most important aspect is always image quality. And the real key, for Dr. Centinaio, is the newest generation MUSICA image processing. “I can tell an image made with MUSICA: it looks different. The borders in the structures are more ‘natural’, for one thing, and there are no artefacts. Soft tissue, hard tissue… there is almost too much information! But it is exactly what I need for analysis. MUSICA makes the difference.”
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