Cervical tears
Keywords: cervix, tear, equine, mareCervical tears often arise as a result of foaling, especially in maiden mares. When the cervical integrity is sufficient to protect the uterine environment during pregnancy, cervical tears do not affect fertility. However, in many cases they do so; mares fail to conceive or conceive then experience early embryonic death.
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The mare with this cervical tear (top left) was presented after a failure to repair it surgically. This is not unusual because surgical repair of the cervix is difficult and healing is usually compromised because of its relatively poor blood supply. The mare was infertile but her endometrial biopsy indicated that her uterus should be able to maintain pregnancy. Therefore a Shirodkar-like suture (a circumferential suture used for cervical closure in humans) was placed in this cervix and the mare was in inseminated at two successive estrous periods. However ultrasonography failed to show pregnancy on both occasions at 14 days..
This illustration also attempts to emphasize that examination using either Polanski or tubular speculums can fail to demonstrate cervical tears. This is especially the case during estrus when the cervix is relaxed. Even during diestrus, when cervical architecture is well defined, this author was unable to diagnose cervical tears on two occasions using speculum examination. Gloved hand examinations revealed the tears and their severity in both cases.
