Autograft increases healing scores, but was not found to have a significant impact on the rate of complications in TTA. The novel plate was not found to have healing scores or radiographic complication rates significantly different from the conventional plate design.

Osteoarthritis (OA) progresses in the canine cranial cruciate ligament (CCL) deficient stifle. Progression of OA is also documented in canine patients after various surgical repair techniques for this injury. We evaluated the radiographic arthritic changes in canine stifle joints that have sustained a CCL injury, and compared radiographic OA scores between Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy (TPLO)surgery patients receiving a medial parapatellar exploratory arthrotomy for CCL remnant removal versus those receiving a limited caudal medial arthrotomy without removal of the CCL remnants. Medial/lateral and caudal/cranial stifle radiographs were obtained before surgery, immediately following TPLO surgery and at 7-38 months (mean 20.5) after surgery. Sixty-eight patients (72 stifles) were included in the study. The cases were divided into two groups. The patients in group 1 (n = 49 patients, 51 stifles) had a limited caudal medial arthrotomy, and patients in group 2 (n = 19 patients, 21 stifles) had a medial parapatellar open arthrotomy. A previously described radiographic osteoarthritis scoring system was used to quantify changes in both of the groups. The age, weight, OA scores, initial tibial plateau angle, final tibial plateau angle, and the change in angle were compared between the groups. The results showed that there was significantly less progression of OA in the group that had the limited caudal medial, arthrotomy, versus a medial parapatellar open arthrotomy. There was a significant advancement of the OA scores of patients that had TPLO surgery.

SummaryThe incorporation of autogenous cortico-cancellous bone graft (CCBG) harvested from the wing of ilium using a powered acetabular reamer and autogenous cancellous bone graft (CBG), harvested from the proximal humerus by curettage, were compared in four young adult mixed breed female dogs. Five milliliters of CCBG or CBG were placed in bilateral, stable, 3.0 cm proximal diaphyseal ulnar defects. Humeral donor sites, and subsequent assignment of graft types of ulnar recipient sites, were alternated between dogs. Craniocaudal and lateral view radiographs were obtained immediately (day 0) and on days 16 and 35 after the operation. Photodensitometric and bone graft area measurements were made from these radiographs and the specific radiographic characteristics of the bone grafts were described at each time interval. Each dog received a series of intravenous fluorochrome label injections on days 23, 28 and 33. The dogs were humanely euthanatized on day 35. The bone graft recipient sites were harvested, processed and the descriptive histological and histomorphometric parameters were evaluated.A statistically significant difference in photodensitometric measurements was not seen between the CCBG and CBG. However, there was a statistically significant increase in the graft area of the CCBG from day 0-16. Mineral apposition rate was significantly greater, (P = 0.005) for the CCBG (mean = 4.8) than for the CBG (mean = 3.7), suggesting that the CCBG appears to be in an earlier more osteogenic phase of incorporation than the CBG. There was a trend which suggested that the percentage of trabecular bone volume was greater (P = 0.11) for the CBG (mean = 43.0) than for the CCBG (mean = 32.0). Other significant differences were not found, with respect to the other morphometric parameters measured. The descriptive histology and subjective radiographic evaluation were the most effective ways of readily distinguishing between the two types of bone graft and they demonstrated that the CBG had incorporated more completely than the CCBG by day 35.Presented at the 30th Annual Meeting of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons, Chicago, Illinois 1995 and at the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Veterinary Orthopaedic Society, Telluride, Colorado 1996