Results of a large-scale necroscopic study of equine colonic ulcers

A necropsy was performed on over 500 horses from a Texas abattoir for the presence of gastric and colonic ulceration. A first group of 365 horses from a variety of sources was examined, and 55% were found to have gastric ulcers, while 44% exhibited colonic ulcers. A second group of 180 performance horses was also examined, and 87% were shown to have gastric ulcers, while 63% exhibited colonic ulcers. The second study included a correlated guaiac-based fecal occult blood test (gFOBT), which was shown to have high specificity but a fairly low sensitivity resulting in several false negatives.