Flicker goes for the Record
Flicker, who has over a period of a few years ruptured both her cruciate liagaments is our Patient of the Month for March. The cruciate ligament is very important in the knee as it holds the thigh bone to the shin bone and when it is ruptured the dog is unable to walk normally on that leg.
Without surgery and over time, the joint becomes progressively damaged with the result that there is chronic pain for the patient and irreversible arthritic change.
There are many techniques for the repair of the ruptured ligament and because Flicker had her ligaments rupture several years apart she has had several types of surgery on her knees.
After Flicker first ruptured a ligament several years ago, we performed an imbrication suture. This is applied around the knee to stabilise the joint. This is usually a very successful technique but unfortunately Flicker is a very active and very heavy dog and she stretched the implant used in the operation over a period of a few weeks. We were forced to re-operate using a technique known as `Over the Top`. This operation implants a graft into the joint to stabilise the knee and worked very well for Flicker. However, it is a very traumatic severe operation and involves a longer recovery time than the newer procedures.
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