A torn cranial cruciate ligament, commonly known as an ACL tear in human medicine, is one of the most common injuries in dogs. More than one million CCL repair surgeries are performed annually. In 2003, owners spent $1.32 billion on knee surgeries and related care. Here at Baker House, the veterinarians diagnose and care for your pets’ knees. Diagnosis is a combination of physical exam and radiographs. After diagnosis, we will discuss treatment options. Following a cranial cruciate ligament tear, no treatment method is one hundred percent effective, and the knee will never be the same as a non damaged knee.
Dogs tear their cruciate ligaments from a combination of factors. It is rarely a single trauma. Current consensus is that CCL tears are caused by a combination of factors: body type, excess weight, and heritable traits. Dogs who tear one CCL are at a significant risk to tear the opposite side.
According to recent studies, approximately sixty percent of dogs will return to adequate function with conservative management: weight control, physical therapy, and anti-inflammatory drugs as needed. For the remaining forty percent, surgery will be needed for a successful outcome. There are numerous different surgical options available, and none have been proven to provide consistently superior results. Here at Baker House we use a lateral stabilization technique.This involves opening your pet’s knee, visualizing meniscal damage, removing the meniscus if necessary, and placing heavy nylon suture outside of the joint capsule anchored to the tibial crest and and the fabella that temporarily stabilizes the joint. This suture is securely crimped down, stopping the forward motion of the tibia, known as a cranial drawer. It’s this motion and instability that causes the arthritis and pain. This suture will eventually break, but by that time the knee will have scarred to provide stability.
Currently the other technique most commonly used is a tibial plateau leveling osteotomy. When this technique was first developed, it was believed that an excessively steep angle between the tibia and the femur was a contributing factor for ruptured CCL’s. This has sense been proven incorrect, and there is no evidence that a TPLO provides a superior outcome, and it has several potential disadvantages. A TPLO is significantly more expensive as it requires special instrumentation and plates. All surgeries have a potential for complications, and the overall complication rate for the two procedures is similar, however a TPLO has a potential for catastrophic failure resulting in amputation.
If you believe your pet has ruptured a CCL, the veterinarians at BakerHouse are happy to provide a complimentary second opinion and discuss treatment options.