REC Equine Specialists installed the first Qalibra Canon Equine Standing CT® system in Australia at their new purpose-built equine hospital at Horsley Park in 2021. This specifically adapted equine CT scanner brings a whole new calibre of equine imaging to veterinary medicine.

The CT gantry is positioned at differing heights and then moves horizontally to scan the head, neck and lower limb with the horse standing. In addition, the versatility of this exciting unit allows CT examination of the entire neck, upper forelimbs, stifles and pelvis under general anaesthesia not previously possible.

Images are typically acquired in 30 seconds which facilitates horse compliance and provides superior high-resolution bone and soft tissue imaging.

Nuclear scintigraphy (bone scanning) has been part of REC Equine Specialists diagnostic toolkit since 1990, as such we have a wealth of expertise in image acquisition and interpretation.  

Our new hospital at Horsley Park is equipped with the latest state-of-the-art equine nuclear medicine instrumentation. This procedure involves injecting your horse with a small amount of radioactive "dye" (technetium 99), which is taken up by areas of increased bone activity. Shortly after this, a special camera is used to detect the low-level radioactivity emitted and provides detailed images of your horses skeleton. This technique is particularly useful in cases where nerve blocks have not revealed the source of the lameness, when other imaging techniques have not shown any abnormalities, in cases of multi-limb lameness or in difficult to image areas such as the pelvis. This imaging modality is extremely useful to identify stress fractures, abnormal stress modelling and to monitor fracture healing.

REC Equine Specialists veterinarians routinely perform endoscopic examinations for a variety of reasons. Video endoscopic examination allows direct high-quality visualisation of a range of internal structures, including the upper airway (nasal passages, larynx, trachea and bronchi) and the stomach & upper small intestine (gastroscopy). In addition, with this equipment our experienced internal medicine specialists are able to examine other structures such as the uterus, bladder and urethra.

The REC Specialist Equine Centre is equipped with the latest high quality digital radiography. This in-hospital technology allows radiographic examination of the lungs, abdomen, neck, back and pelvis, not readily able to be examined in the field. 

REC Specialist Equine Centre is equipped with the latest high quality ultrasound equipment. This imaging instrumentation is most commonly used for evaluating soft tissue injuries including tendon & ligament injuries, lower respiratory tract infections, cardiovascular disease and colic amongst many other conditions.