Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
How CT and X-rays find elbow disease in lame dogs
By Villamonte-Chevalier, A et al.·Published in BMC veterinary research·2015·Department of Animal Medicine and Surgery, Spain·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Assessment of medial coronoid disease in 180 canine lame elbow joints: a sensitivity and specificity comparison of radiographic, computed tomographic and arthroscopic findings.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs with elbow pain underwent different imaging tests to diagnose medial coronoid disease (MCD), a common cause of lameness. The study found that computed tomography (CT) was highly effective, accurately identifying MCD in all cases tested, while traditional X-rays were less reliable. This means that if your dog is limping due to elbow issues and X-rays are inconclusive, your vet might recommend a CT scan for a clearer diagnosis. Overall, CT is a preferred method for assessing elbow problems in dogs.
People also search for: dog elbow pain diagnosis · medial coronoid disease treatment · CT scan for dog elbow issues
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Diagnostic imaging is essential to assess the lame patient; lesions of the elbow joint have traditionally been evaluated radiographically, however computed tomography (CT) has been suggested as a useful technique to diagnose various elbow pathologies. The primary objective of this study was to determine the sensitivity and specificity of CT to assess medial coronoid disease (MCD), using arthroscopy as gold standard. The secondary objective was to ascertain the radiographic sensitivity and specificity for MCD compared with CT. METHODS: For this study 180 elbow joints were assessed, of which 141 had been examined with radiography, CT and arthroscopy; and 39 joints, had radiographic and CT assessment. Sensitivity and specificity were calculated for CT and radiographic findings using available statistical software. RESULTS: Sensitivity and specificity of CT using arthroscopy as gold standard resulted in high values for sensitivity (100 %) and specificity (93 %) for the assessment of MCD. For the radiographic evaluation, a sensitivity of 98 % and specificity of 64 - 69 % using CT as the technique of reference, were found. DISCUSSION: These results suggest that in case of doubt during radiographic assessment, CT could be used as a non-invasive technique to assess the presence of MCD. CONCLUSION: Based on the high sensitivity and specificity obtained in this study it has been considered that CT, rather than arthroscopy, is the preferred noninvasive technique to assess MCD lesions of the canine elbow joint.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26407863/