Minimal invasive plate osteosynthesis in veterinary orthopaedics

The current increase in the numbers of fracture treatment by plate osteosynthesis in veterinary medicine is leading to the production of specific plates for different types of fractures. Recent studies about fracture healing show that MIPO procedure is superior for faster union and healing by decreased contamination risk, faster return of function, lower complication rates and blood supply preservation. By now, indirect reduction technics are more valuable in preservation of the biological structure of bone than full anatomic reduction techniques. Day by day, MIPO becomes more popular in veterinary orthopedics. Basicly the method is applying a plate without opening the fractured area to make a bridging between the proximal and distal metaphysis/diaphysis of the fragments. The success of the procedure relies on the type of the fracture and the fracture area. The procedure can be applied especially diaphyseal segmental fractures with success but to be avoided in articular fractures. The procedure has been being used usually in the diaphyseal tibial and radial fractures of the cats and dogs. But nowadays it has started to be used in femoral and humeral fractures as well.The disadvantages of the procedure is the difficulty of the application and the need of the intraoperative radiography or fluoroscopy for the correct positioning of the fractures.