Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Surgery to fix unusual crooked thigh bone in 7-month Border Collie
By Smalle, Tesh M et al.·Published in Journal of the South African Veterinary Association·2018·U-Vet Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Australia·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Corrective wedge ostectomy for an atypical femoral procurvatum deformity stabilised with a supracondylar bone plate.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A 7-month-old male Border Collie was brought in for chronic lameness in his right hind leg, which was mostly non-weight-bearing and accompanied by muscle loss. X-rays showed an unusual bend in the bone of the right femur, likely due to a previous fracture that had healed incorrectly after an injury. The veterinarian performed surgery to correct the bone shape and used a special plate to stabilize it. After six weeks, the dog was able to bear some weight on the leg, and ten months later, he showed significant improvement with no signs of lameness.
People also search for: dog hind leg lameness · Border Collie femur surgery · dog recovery after bone surgery
Abstract
Physeal fractures of the distal femur are among the most commonly encountered fractures in skeletally immature dogs. These fractures respond poorly to conservative management and thus early surgical reduction and stabilisation are recommended. A 7-month-old intact male Border collie presented with a history of chronic lameness. Clinical examination revealed a predominantly non-weight-bearing lameness of the right hindlimb and concurrent muscle atrophy. A pronounced, but atypical, procurvatum deformity of the right distal femur was diagnosed on survey radiographs. Malunion of a Salter-Harris Type III physeal fracture was suspected as there was an associated history of trauma. A cranially based closing wedge ostectomy was performed to address the femoral deformity and subsequently stabilised using a supracondylar bone plate. The dog recovered well and was moderately weight-bearing lame on the right hindlimb 6 weeks post-operatively. Ten months following the operation the range of motion had improved in the right stifle and no signs of lameness were evident at a walk. We advocate surgical correction of sagittal plane deformities of the distal femur using the CORA method. Overall, a good functional outcome was achieved, which is consistent with previously reported cases with similar deformities.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30551705/