Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Detecting meniscal tears in dogs with cruciate ligament tears using
By Plesman, R et al.·Published in Veterinary and comparative orthopaedics and traumatology : V.C.O.T·2013·Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, Canada·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Detection of meniscal tears by arthroscopy and arthrotomy in dogs with cranial cruciate ligament rupture: a retrospective, cohort study.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A study looked at dogs with a torn cranial cruciate ligament (a common knee injury) to see how well two surgical methods could find meniscal tears (another type of knee injury). Out of 531 dogs, those who had arthroscopy (a minimally invasive procedure) had a higher detection rate of meniscal tears at 48.4%, compared to 38.8% for those who had arthrotomy (a more invasive surgery). This suggests that arthroscopy might be better at spotting these tears. If your dog is limping or showing signs of knee pain, discussing these surgical options with your vet could be helpful.
People also search for: dog knee pain treatment · meniscal tear surgery in dogs · arthroscopy vs arthrotomy for dogs
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To evaluate and compare detection of meniscal tears associated with cranial cruciate ligament insufficiency by either arthroscopy or arthrotomy. METHODS: A retrospective, cohort study was completed with stifles (n = 531) of dogs with cranial cruciate ligament rupture. Either a medial parapatellar arthrotomy or an arthroscopy procedure was performed and groups were compared for significant differences in meniscal tears detected using logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Arthroscopy was performed on 58.8% and arthrotomy on 41.2% of the stifles. In total, 44.4% of the examined stifles had meniscal tears. Meniscal tears were found in 38.8% of the stifles examined by arthrotomy, and 48.4% of those examined by arthroscopy. Overall, the rate of detection of a meniscal tear was significantly different (p = 0.019) between the groups, and meniscal tears were observed more frequently by arthroscopy than by arthrotomy (odds ratio 1.54; 95% confidence interval 1.07 - 2.22). CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: These results suggest that arthroscopy may be more sensitive than arthrotomy for detection of meniscal pathology in clinical patients. However, these results must be interpreted with caution since this was a retrospective study. Randomized prospective clinical studies are required to further test this hypothesis.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23154786/