Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Carpal joint fusion surgery results in five dogs with wrist problems
By Lewis, S T et al.·Published in Australian veterinary journal·2019·Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Antebrachiometacarpal arthrodesis in five dogs.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
Five dogs with serious wrist problems, including four with severe stiffness and one with an infected joint, underwent surgery to fuse the bones in their wrists. After the surgery, all dogs experienced some swelling at the surgical site but eventually healed well, with complete bone fusion occurring within 4 to 67 weeks. Although four of the dogs had to have surgical plates removed due to infection, they all showed improvement in how they used their limbs. By the final check-up, which was between 25 to 296 weeks after surgery, all dogs had acceptable limb function.
People also search for: dog wrist surgery recovery · carpal joint infection in dogs · dog wrist fusion surgery outcome
Abstract
CASE REPORTS: Five dogs (4 with severe carpal contracture, 1 with a chronically infected carpal joint) underwent antebrachiometacarpal arthrodesis. Excision of all carpal bones, except the accessory carpal bone, was done, either because of persistent infection or to allow the manus to be arthrodesed in a functional position. All five dogs developed varying degrees of soft tissue swelling of the surgical site following surgery. All five arthrodeses achieved complete osseous union within 4-67 weeks. The immediate postoperative distal radiometacarpal frontal plane angulation ranged from 1° to 19° (mean ± SD: 7 ± 8°). The immediate postoperative distal radiometacarpal sagittal plane angulation ranged from 6° to 26° (mean ± SD: 17 ± 9°). Plate coverage of the secured metacarpal bone(s) ranged from 75% to 87% (mean ± SD: 80 ± 4%). Infection necessitated plate removal in four dogs, 3-17 (mean ± SD: 8 ± 6) months following surgery and 0-15 (mean ± SD: 5 ± 7) weeks following radiographic documentation of complete osseous union. CONCLUSION: Despite one dog having marked elbow incongruency and degenerative joint disease and one dog having an ipsilateral radial nerve deficit, all five dogs improved and had acceptable limb function at the time of the final evaluation, which ranged from 25 to 296 (mean ± SD: 99 ± 111) weeks following surgery.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30919437/