January 2002 Pet of the Month
Molly Dreier  This month we are featuring an 8 year old
yellow lab named Molly. Three months ago Molly was outside playing ball with her owners when she suddenly began limping on one of her hind legs. The next day Molly's owners brought her in to see
us. After a thorough examination and x-rays we diagnosed Molly's problem as a torn cranial cruciate ligament.
Cranial cruciate ligament rupture is the
most common injury to a dog's knee. The injury can occur in any breed of dog and is more common in middle age dogs. There is also a correlation between the weight of the dog and the degeneration of the
ligament, with heavier dogs being more prone to rupture. Studies have also shown that 30% of dogs that tear the ligament in one knee will suffer the same injury in the opposite leg at a later time.
There are two basic types of cruciate injury, an acute injury and a chronic injury. Molly is a classic example of an acute injury, she was
running around playing ball and suddenly would not place any weight on the injured leg. With a chronic injury you expect to see intermittent
lameness with the dog favoring the leg intermittently and not bearing any weight on the leg. After the ligament is torn arthritic changes can
begin to develop in the joint in a couple of weeks. Initially many owners will elect to treat the injury conservatively by restricting activity and using
pain medication. The treatment of choice for correcting the problem is to surgically reconstruct the ligament. Surgery is the only way to restore
stability to the joint and alleviate the pain associated with the injury. Without surgery the knee will develop a large amount of arthritis, which will further contribute to the discomfort of the joint. There are several different surgical techniques, which can be used to restore
stability to the knee. The ligament itself cannot be repaired so the ligament is replaced using either suture material or other soft tissue from the joint. The most common technique
and the one, which we use, is referred to as a lateral imbrication. The first phase of the surgery involves exploring the joint and removing any damaged ligaments. The second step involves
reconstructing the ligament using heavy monofilament suture.
Following surgery owners can expect a 9-12 week recovery period before the dog is able to resume normal activity. The rehabilitation
involves such things as applying ice or warm compresses, gentle flexion and extension of the knee and leash walking. The amount of activity is increased slowly over the 9-12 week recovery period. The
goal of the surgery is to provide stability to the joint, which in turn will minimize any arthritic changes and allow the dog to resume a normal
active lifestyle. The biggest complication following surgery is if the suture prosthesis fails. Molly has done extremely well following surgery her knee is very stable
and she has resumed almost full activity. |
