Fifty-one dogs treated for mandibular osteosarcomas (OSs) were studied retrospectively. Treatments were partial mandibulectomy (n = 32); partial mandibulectomy and chemotherapy (n = 10); partial mandibulectomy and radiation therapy (n = 3); partial mandibulectomy, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy (n = 4); and radiation therapy alone (n = 2). The overall one-year survival rate was 59.3%. Dogs treated with surgery alone had a one-year survival rate of 71%, which is higher than the one-year survival rate for dogs with appendicular OSs treated with surgery alone (p of 0.001 or less; hazard ratio of 0.29). There was no apparent effect of various treatment modalities, nor institution where treatment was given, nor histological type. Histological score and, to a lesser extent, histological grade were predictive of survival outcome.
Both triceps tendons and the medial collateral ligaments of both stifles of 10 freshly euthanized dogs were sharply transected. One tendon and one ligament of each dog were sutured with a three loop pulley pattern, and the opposite tendons and ligaments were sutured with a locking loop pattern. The tendons and ligaments were harvested with their muscular and bony attachments. The anastomoses were slowly tested in tension until failure occurred. The amount of tensile load required to produce failure of the anastomosis, the amount of distraction of the sutured ends prior to failure, and the modes of failure were recorded. In both tendons and ligaments, the three loop pulley pattern provided significantly greater tensile strength (p < 0.01) and allowed significantly less distraction between the sutured ends (p < 0.01) than the locking loop pattern. In tendons, disruption of the suture material was the most common mode of failure with both patterns. In ligaments, both patterns failed most commonly by pulling free from the tissue.
Seventeen dogs that had incurred Salter Type I or II injuries to the distal femoral physis were evaluated clinically and radiographically for evidence of altered growth of the femur or tibia. Some degree of femoral growth disturbance was found in 82.4% of the dogs; the mean extent of decreased growth was 6.7%. Obvious clinical lameness resulted from the leg length discrepancy in three dogs. Several factors were evaluated statistically as predictors of growth disturbance; the age of the animal at the time of injury appeared to have the most prognostic importance. Factors found not to be as significant were the adult size of the animal, the type of Salter fracture incurred, the displacement of the fracture, the time lag between injury and surgery, and the method of fracture fixation employed. Compensatory overgrowth of the tibia in response to decreased growth of the femur was a rare finding.
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