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Peer-reviewed veterinary case report

Shoulder joint slipping inward in toy-breed dogs

By Aikawa, Takeshi et al.·Published in Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association·2024·View original on PubMed

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Original publication title: Management of medial luxation of the shoulder joint in toy-breed dogs using an antiluxation pin placed lateral to the supraspinatus muscle tendon: 20 limbs (2017-2022).

Species:
dog
Dog limpingMovement & jointsDogs

Plain-English summary

An 10-year-old Toy Poodle was brought in for lameness due to a shoulder joint issue called medial luxation, where the shoulder joint slips out of place. The veterinarian used a new surgical technique involving an antiluxation pin to stabilize the joint. After surgery, most dogs showed significant improvement, with 18 out of 20 limbs remaining stable and pain-free for an average of 18.5 months. A few limbs did experience reluxation, but they were successfully managed with follow-up surgeries or adjustments. Overall, this method proved to be a simple and effective treatment for this condition in small dogs.

People also search for: Toy Poodle shoulder pain · dog shoulder luxation treatment · antiluxation pin surgery for dogs

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To describe the clinical and diagnostic findings, surgical procedures, and clinical course of dogs with medial shoulder luxation (MSL) treated with a novel method using an antiluxation pin. ANIMALS: 18 client-owned toy-breed dogs (20 treated limbs). CLINICAL PRESENTATION: Toy-breed dogs with MSL were treated with the antiluxation pin (2017 to 2022). The collected data included signalment, cause of luxation, preoperative and follow-up clinical evaluations with lameness scores (LMS), and radiographic and/or CT findings. RESULTS: Toy Poodle was the most represented breed (17 of 18 dogs [94.4%]). The median age was 10 years. One of 18 dogs had a history of trauma. Medial luxation was confirmed in all limbs using radiography or palpation under general anesthesia. Reluxation occurred in 3 limbs at 1, 4, and 30 days after surgery, respectively. Of these 3 limbs, 1 limb underwent revision to replace the original pin and the other 2 limbs underwent no further treatment. One limb with persistent pain underwent 2 revision surgeries to adjust the pin orientation 30 and 72 days after the initial surgery. Eighteen limbs remained unluxated after the initial or revision surgery until the final follow-up (median, 18.5 months; range, 1 to 63 months). The LMS at the final follow-up for the 18 unluxated limbs (mean, 0.5) was significantly lower than the preoperative LMS (mean, 4.5) (P < .01). CLINICAL RELEVANCE: A novel method of the antiluxation pin provides an alternative surgical treatment for MSL in toy-breed dogs that is minimally invasive and technically simple.

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Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38718829/