Elbow dysplasia in dogs

Abstract

Elbow pathology is a frequent cause of lameness and osteoarthritis in young, rapidly growing, large and giant breed dogs. The term elbow dysplasia refers to ununited anconeal process (UAP), fragmented medial cronoid process (FCP), osteochondrosis of the medial humeral condyle (OCD) and elbow incongruency (EI). A total of 888 dogs were assembled in this study with a history of thoracic limb lameness. All dogs were evaluated through physical, orthopedic and radiographical sceening. Radiographic diagnosis of elbow dysplasia was based on the detection of primary ED lesions ( JI, UAP, FCP and OCD) or the detection of secondary osteoarthritic changes. It was revealed that 72 dogs (8%) of the examined dogs had ED. The affected dogs were of different breeds and ages (48 cases>12 months) and (24 cases<12 months). The majority of the recorded dysplastic dogs were of males (53 dogs) (73.6%) and females(19) accounted for (26.4%). Conservative treatment which comprised rest, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents and physiotherapy was used in 66 cases in variable outcomes. Surgical intervention was limited to 6 cases with the ununited or fragmented anconeal process