Diagnosis of endometritis

Samples from the uterus have mainly been used for diagnosing infertility and endometritis by bacterial culture 4, 5 , cytology 6,5 and histology. 7 The combined use of cytology and bacteriology as an aid to the diagnosis of endometritis was initially proposed more than 20 years ago. 8 The finding of polymorph nuclear cells (PMN ́s) in a sample shows the mare is suffering from an endometrial inflammation, but without identification of the causing agents, it is difficult to propose a treatment protocol. 4 A more differentiated diagnosis of both inflammatory and degenerative causes for endometritis and endometrosis can be obtained by a histological examination of an endometrial biopsy. 8 This method however is time consuming, as it takes time to mail, process, cut and stain a biopsy, before a diagnosis can be made Time that is not often available in the middle of a breeding season. Originally material from the uterus for bacteriological and cytological examination was proposed harvested with a vaginal speculum and a sterile cotton swab 1,2,4 Later this procedure was modified to the double guarded swabs, that today are widely commercially available. 9 In recent years however, new protocols for collection of material from the equine endometrium have been proposed, and their sensitivity and specificity under practice condition have been evaluated and compared with the already used methods . 10, 11 These methods includes bacteriology and cytology obtained from endometrial biopsies and endometrial flush with sterile 0.9 % saline solution. Kenny and Doig 7 predicted expected foaling rates of a mare based on the histological conformation of the endometrium of the mares. Whether these predictions still are reliable under modern conditions has been questioned. 12 This paper shows results of pregnancy and foaling rates obtained recently in stud farm practice compared to histological groups as proposed by Kenney and Doig. 12