Effects of Intraarticular Tramadol Administration on Biochemical and Cytological Properties of Equine Synovial Fluid: Comparison with Lidocaine (Report‪)‬

INTRODUCTION Joint injuries are common in horses and about 33% of lameness is considered to have originated from articular injuries (Leme et al., 1999). Pathologic conditions that involve the joints of horses cause a decrease in their athletic performance. Diagnostic and therapeutic arthroscopy are procedures performed quite frequently in equine referral practice (Price et al., 2003) and are considered to produce a moderate degree of postoperative inflammatory orthopedic pain (Richardson and Caron, 1998), which will inevitably lead to postoperative discomfort despite peri-operative and post-operative analgesia.