Search

Osteoarthritis is one of the most common diseases in veterinary medicine. There are various causes for joints developing OA, with some of them being well investigated, while others are still a matter of speculation. In this retrospective study we examined the prevalence of OA in the shoulder, elbow, hip and stifle joints in a clinic population of dogs older than 8 years, which were presented mostly due to orthopaedic complaints. Dogs were included in the study if one or more of the aforementioned joints was included in the radiographs. Radiographs were reviewed by three different observers and graded by severity. Prevalence of OA was 39.2%, 57.4%, 35.9% and 36.4% for the shoulder, elbow, hip and stifle, respectively. There was no correlation between higher grades of OA and weight as well as age, but significantly higher prevalence of OA in heavier groups when grouped for weight. Sex and castration status did not affect presence of OA. As most of the examined joints were free of OA, radiographic findings suggestive of OA should not be considered normal in senescent dogs., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest None of the authors has any financial or personal relationships that could inappropriately influence or bias the content of the paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Tibial plateau leveling osteotomy (TPLO) has been commonly performed in dogs with cranial cruciate ligament disease (CCLD) since the introduction by Slocum and Slocum (1993). To reduce cranial tibial thrust the TPLO technique aims for a postoperative tibial plateau angle (TPA) of 5-6.5°. In recent years studies have shown that a postoperative TPA below 5° could be beneficial regarding stifle stability or meniscal load. Dogs with CCLD that were treated with TPLO, were examined preoperatively, six weeks, three and six months postoperatively with gait analysis and grouped according to their postoperative TPA. The aims of study was (1) to evaluate if dogs with a postoperative TPA below 5° would have a faster limb function recovery up to six months postoperatively as measured objectively with ground reaction forces (GRFs) and (2) to determine whether the postoperative TPA correlates with the outcome measurements. Dogs with TPA <5° showed no faster limb function recovery postoperatively up to six months as measured with peak vertical force (PVF) or vertical impulse (VI) (p > 0.05). No correlation for the postoperative TPA <5° on GRFs was demonstrated. But the postoperative TPA showed a significant correlation with the symmetry indices of PVF (SIPVF) and VI (SIVI) for all dogs (>5° and <5° TPA together), indicating that with lower postoperative TPA dogs had a more symmetrical gait in hindlimbs SIPVF (r = 0.144, p < 0.05) and SIVI (r = 0.189, p < 0.01). The study indicates that a lower postoperative TPA could be beneficial regarding hindlimb symmetry indices of GRFs., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest None of the authors has any financial or personal relationships that could inappropriately influence or bias the content of the paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)