Medicine & Surgery
Experts at the George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals at New Bolton Center provide services that range from primary care through the most complicated and sophisticated medical and surgical techniques in use today. A leader in equine diagnostics, the hospital operates state-of-the-art equine sports medicine and diagnostic imaging facilities in conjunction with high-speed treadmill services.
This facility delivers critical data for cardiologists, orthopedists and other specialists, as well as trainers looking for performance evaluations. The hospital offers sophisticated diagnostic tools, such as nuclear scintigraphy, state-of-the-art ultrasonography, endoscopy, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and digital radiography. Extensive MRI studies of all four limbs, plus cranial and spinal areas, are available, and the hospital’s imaging faculty is working to develop full-body MRI capability, which will allow patients to be examined while tranquilized rather than under general anesthesia.
Our 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week emergency/critical care service provides a vital service for our equine patients in the Mid-Atlantic region. Sports-related injuries to bones, ligaments and joints that historically have proven catastrophic to a horse’s career—or life—can many times be repaired with sophisticated surgical techniques. Just as in human orthopedics, most equine injuries are minor, involving sprains, chip fractures and tendon/ligament injuries. Since the early 1980s, the hospital has treated these injuries with arthroscopic techniques. Surgeons also perform colic surgery, and experts at Widener have advanced neonatology skills that are in great demand by horse owners in the area.
The hospital’s large-animal medicine section is staffed by internationally recognized clinicians in equine internal medicine, including respiratory disorders, gastrointestinal disease, muscle disorders, infectious diseases, neurology, ophthalmology, neonatology and emergency and critical care.
The hospital is staffed by 27 clinicians, 20 interns and residents, and 42 veterinary technicians and nurses.