Cruciate Ligament Rupture in Dogs
Cruciate Ligament Rupture is one of the most common injuries in the dogs and the major cause of degenerative joint disease (DJD) in the stifle joint. The ligamentous injury may be a complete rupture with gross instability or a partial rupture with minor instability.
Etiology
The two most common causes of Cranial Cruciate Ligament Rupture in Dogs are trauma and degeneration of the ligaments within the joint. Acute or traumatic cruciate rupture is caused by a twisting injury to the knee joint. This occurs most often when the dog (or athlete) is running and suddenly changes direction. This places the majority of the body weight on the knee joint, and excessive rotational and shearing forces are placed on the cruciate ligaments. This injury usually affects the anterior or cranial (front) ligament. A cruciate ligament rupture is usually extremely painful and the knee joint becomes unstable, resulting in lameness.
Clinical signs
| Complete rupture | Incomplete rupture |
| Acute lameness Peri-articular(soft) swelling Pain on hyperextension Severe drawer sign | Chronic lameness Peri-articular(firm) swelling Pain on hyperextension Mild drawer sign |
Diagnosis
With traumatic cruciate rupture, the usual history is that the dog was running and suddenly stopped or cried out and was then unable to bear weight on the affected leg. Many pets will ‘toe touch’ and place only a small amount of weight on the injured leg.
Treatment
Intra-articular techniques
Intra-articular techniques used for the reconstruction cranial cruciate ligament. Intra-articular techniques are fascia lata, patellar tendon, etc., synthetic material, Often in combination with extra-articular and augmentation techniques, Long term stability provided by peri-articular fibrosis.
Extra-articular techniques
Extra-articular techniques are Soft tissue imbrication (augmentation), Suture(s) “in plane” of the cranial cruciate ligament (DeAngelis technique, MRIT, enz.), Lateral collateral ligament (fibular head transposition)Tibial plateau leveling osteotomy (TPLO), Long term stability provided by peri-articular fibre.