{"id":34892,"date":"2026-07-29T11:49:02","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T15:49:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/?p=34892"},"modified":"2026-07-29T11:49:03","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T15:49:03","slug":"pvr-s2026-after-the-storm-utilizing-advanced-diagnostic-imaging-purdue-veterinary-hospital-team-provides-emergency-treatment-for-equine-victim-of-powerful-storm-in-michigan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/pvr-s2026-after-the-storm-utilizing-advanced-diagnostic-imaging-purdue-veterinary-hospital-team-provides-emergency-treatment-for-equine-victim-of-powerful-storm-in-michigan.php","title":{"rendered":"After the Storm \u2013 Utilizing Advanced Diagnostic Imaging, Purdue Veterinary Hospital Team Provides Emergency Treatment for Equine Victim of Powerful Storm in Michigan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For a horse named Sassy, Purdue Veterinary Medicine\u2019s Brunner Equine Hospital proved to be the right place at the right time to recover from a scary accident that happened during a violent spring storm in Michigan.  According to Dr. Danielle Cucuzella, Purdue visiting assistant professor of large animal surgery, the Quarter Horse was seriously hurt during near 100 mile-per-hour winds where she lives in Saint Louis, Michigan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDue to severe trauma to Sassy\u2019s face, skull, sinuses, and left orbit [eye socket] after being struck by a fallen tree limb during the storm, Sassy was seen by her local veterinarian and then referred and hospitalized for emergency stabilization by our colleagues at Michigan State University,\u201d Dr. Cucuzella explained. Initial evaluation and x-rays showed severe fractures to multiple bones of her skull and face. \u201cAdditional imaging in the form of CT was recommended in order to more precisely map the damage,\u201d Dr. Cucuzella said. Once she was stable enough for travel, Sassy was sent to Purdue because of the standing CT machine at the College of Veterinary Medicine\u2019s Brunner Equine Hospital, which makes it possible for the head to be scanned with the horse standing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"X-ray
CT images showing the extent of Sassy\u2019s injuries, including multiple displaced fractures of the bones around the left eye and forehead (figure 1), as well as associated soft-tissue swelling and gas near the left eye (figure 2).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"3D
3-D reconstructed images generated by the Qalibra CT system made possible the custom printing of Sassy\u2019s helmet that was contoured to her skull.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThankfully, we have the Qalibra standing CT system that makes it possible to perform a CT scan without having to anesthetize the horse,\u201d Dr. Cucuzella said. \u201cPutting Sassy under anesthesia would have been extremely dangerous given the nature of her injuries.\u201d  Purdue has the only Qalibra standing CT equipment in the Midwest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Qalibra CT scan unfortunately showed that there was much more extensive damage deeper in the skull, including multiple fractures of her orbit that were in danger of damaging her globe [eyeball] or optic nerve at any time if displaced,\u201d Dr. Cucuzella shared. \u201cThis would result in Sassy losing her vision or her eye completely. For that reason, it was decided to pursue additional protective measures. Sassy\u2019s CT was used to build her a 3-D-printed reconstruction external fixation helmet to protect her eye and other important structures during healing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Sassy with her equine surgery team in the Brunner Equine Hospital (l-r): Emma Zaicow, fourth-year veterinary student; Sarah Larsen, veterinary assistant, large animal; Dr. Danielle Cucuzella, visiting assistant professor of large animal surgery; Micah Black, veterinary assistant, large animal surgery; Dr. Alexandra Usimaki, large animal surgery resident; Dr. Michelle Tucker, assistant professor of large animal surgery; and Ece Inanc, graduate research assistant.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Together, the large animal surgery, diagnostic imaging, and ophthalmology services worked with the help of expertise from Purdue\u2019s School of Aeronautics and Astronautics to 3-D print a protective helmet for Sassy that would hopefully prevent her fractured bones from dislodging and causing further complications, and allow them time to heal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Sassy with Dr. Danielle Cucuzella (right) and other Purdue equine surgery team members on May 29 as Sassy took her first steps outdoors wearing her protective mask.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The helmet has the appearance of a black mask that covers just the side of her face that was injured, giving her a Phantom of the Opera-esque look, and she wore it without objection as she recovered at the Equine Hospital.  With the recovery progressing smoothly, Sassy was released from the hospital June 1 to go home with her owner to continue recovering there.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"two
Dr. Michelle Tucker, engineer and board-certified large animal surgeon, and her graduate research assistant, Ece Inanc, show one of the 3-D printed masks they prepared for Sassy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cShe has a great prognosis for survival, and with the addition of our 3-D printed helmet, she also now has a good prognosis for maintaining her vision and hopefully can soon get back to the young child who rides her,\u201d Dr. Cucuzella said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sassy\u2019s treatment proved to be a total team effort that even linked veterinary medicine and engineering, with the guidance of Dr. Michelle Tucker, assistant professor of large animal surgery, who also holds an engineering degree and works with 3-D printing as part of her research. And just in time to help with Sassy\u2019s care and treatment, she added a new research team member, Ece Inanc, a graduate research assistant currently working toward earning a PhD from the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics in Purdue\u2019s College of Engineering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A big thank you to PVM\u2019s Equine Surgery team for providing excellent care and treatment of Sassy, with the hope that she will again be able to carry her rider at their Michigan home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
The interdisciplinary Purdue team that linked veterinary medicine and aeronautical and astronautical engineering worked tirelessly with the hope that Sassy, pictured here before the accident, would once again carry her rider at their home in Michigan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For a horse named Sassy, Purdue Veterinary Medicine\u2019s Brunner Equine Hospital proved to be the right place at the right time to recover from a scary accident that happened during a violent spring storm in Michigan. According to Dr. Danielle Cucuzella, Purdue visiting assistant professor of large animal surgery, the Quarter Horse was seriously hurt during near 100 mile-per-hour winds where she lived in Saint Louis, Michigan.
\nDr. Cucuzella said after initial treatment for severe trauma to her face, skull, sinuses, and left orbit, and once she was stable enough for travel, Sassy was sent to Purdue because of the standing CT machine at the College of Veterinary Medicine\u2019s Brunner Equine Hospital, which makes it possible for the head to be scanned with the horse standing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":34893,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,27],"tags":[1432,811,192],"class_list":["post-34892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hospitals","category-services","tag-equine-hospital","tag-pvm-report","tag-whatsnew"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34892"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35166,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34892\/revisions\/35166"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}