Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Elbow incongruency surgery with ulnar distraction in small dogs
By Coggeshall, J D et al.·Published in The Journal of small animal practice·2014·Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Arthroscopic-guided ulnar distraction for the correction of elbow incongruency in four dogs.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
Four small breed dogs with elbow incongruency were brought in for limping and pain in their front legs. After thorough examinations and imaging tests, the vets found that three of the dogs had a specific issue with a part of the elbow joint. They performed surgery to remove the damaged part and lengthened the ulna (one of the bones in the forearm) to correct the joint alignment. Following the surgery, all dogs showed significant improvement in their lameness and pain levels, indicating that this surgical approach can be effective for severe elbow problems.
People also search for: dog limping front leg · elbow surgery for dogs · small breed dog elbow pain · dog elbow incongruency treatment
Abstract
Four skeletally immature, small breed dogs (five elbows) with elbow incongruency were evaluated for forelimb lameness. Findings on clinical examination included pain, effusion and decreased range of motion of the affected elbow. Radiography, computed tomography and arthroscopy demonstrated elbow incongruency in all dogs. Fragmented medial coronoid process was diagnosed arthroscopically in three dogs (four elbows). Arthroscopic subtotal coronoidectomy was performed in all cases of fragmented medial coronoid process. Incongruency was corrected with acute ulnar lengthening under arthroscopic visualisation. The ulna was stabilised with a plate following correction. In two elbows an ostectomy of the anconeal process was performed to prevent impingement against the olecranon fossa. All dogs demonstrated improvement in lameness scores and client-scored visual analogue scale scores. Postoperative computed tomography showed significant improvement in elbow incongruency in all dogs. Arthroscopic-guided ulnar lengthening may be considered as a valid treatment in severe cases of elbow incongruency.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24032426/