Clinical comparison and short-term radiographic evaluation of Tight Rope and Lateral Suture procedures for dogs after cranial cruciate ligament rupture

Abstract

The aim of this study was to monitor short-term osteoarthrosis progress in relation to a recently introduced novel extracapsular method called the Tight Rope procedure and after Lateral Suture with nylon in cruciate-deficient dog stifle joints. Twelve dogs were included in the study. Treatment type was not randomised. Mediolateral radiographs from 12 stifle joint were evaluated preoperatively and six months after surgery. A modified scoring system for evaluation of osteoarthrotic changes was used. The initial osteoarthrotic score in the TightRope group ranged from three to six and in the Lateral Suture group from 0 to 11. In the TightRope group 66.6% of dogs had an osteoathrotic score difference of ≤ 5 and 33.3% dogs had an osteoarthrotic score difference of > 5. For the Lateral Suture group 50% of dogs had an osteoarthrotic score difference of ≤ 5 and 50% dogs had an osteoarthrotic score difference of > 5. The Wilcoxon signed rank test revealed a significant difference between preoperative and postoperative osteoarthrotic scores (P = 0.0038). No significant differences were noted between TightRope and Lateral Suture groups in terms of changes in mean radiographic osteoarthrotic score preoperatively and at the sixmonth postoperative end point. Both groups had numerically higher radiographic scores six months after surgery.