Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Risk factors for second cruciate ligament tear in Labradors
By Buote, Nicole et al.·Published in Veterinary surgery : VS·2009·Animal Medical Center, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Age, tibial plateau angle, sex, and weight as risk factors for contralateral rupture of the cranial cruciate ligament in Labradors.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of 94 Labradors that had surgery for a torn cranial cruciate ligament (CCL) were studied to see how likely they were to tear the other CCL afterward. About 50% of these dogs ended up with a tear in the opposite leg within an average of 5.5 months after the first injury. The study found that factors like age, weight, sex, and the angle of the knee did not predict whether a dog would have a second tear. This means that if your Labrador has one CCL tear, there's a significant chance they could tear the other one soon after, regardless of these factors.
People also search for: Labrador CCL tear recovery · dog knee surgery risks · signs of CCL injury in dogs
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To compare rates of contralateral cranial cruciate ligament rupture (CCLR) in Labradors based on age and weight at initial rupture, sex, and tibial plateau angle (TPA) and to determine whether Labradors that rupture their initial cranial cruciate ligament (CCL) at an earlier age (<4 years) are more likely to rupture their contralateral side within a certain period of time. STUDY DESIGN: Case series. ANIMALS: Labradors (n=94) that had tibial plateau leveling osteotomy (TPLO). METHODS: Two groups: no contralateral rupture (NR) and contralateral rupture (CR) were compared for significant (P<.05) differences in percentage of subsequent cruciate tears using a Wilcoxon's rank-sum tests for continuous variables and Fisher's exact test for sex. Adjusted odds ratios for likelihood of subsequent cruciate tears (yes/no) were estimated using logistic regression. Associations of these characteristics with time to subsequent rupture were assessed using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis estimation. Predictors of presentation with bilateral ruptures (BR) versus single rupture were also evaluated using Wilcoxon's rank-sum tests and a generalized Fisher's exact test. RESULTS: Subsequent CCLR occurred in 45 dogs (48%), and BR on admission were identified in 10 dogs (10.6%). Comparing NR and CR dogs, there were no significant differences between age or weight at initial rupture, sex or TPA; however there were associations toward longer time to CR for dogs older than the median age and female dogs (intact and spayed). There were no significant differences in age, sex, weight, or TPA of dogs with bilateral CCL ruptures compared with initial unilateral ruptures; however, there was a trend toward dogs presenting at an older age and with lower TPA's in the BR group. Among the 84 NR/CR dogs, the median time to rupture of the contralateral CCL was 5.5 months (95% CI 5.2-5.7). CONCLUSIONS: Age and weight at initial rupture, sex, and TPA does not affect likelihood or rate of contralateral CCL rupture or presentation with bilateral CCL ruptures. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Approximately 50% of Labradors will rupture the contralateral CCL within 5.5 months of the initial rupture but age, weight, sex, and TPA cannot be used as predictive features.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19538670/