34th Annual Scientific Meeting proceedings

Objectives:

To report the clinical presentation, surgical treatment, and functional outcome of bilateral osteochondritis dissecans of the medial radial head (RH) in a dog.

Methods:

A 1.5-year-old male Bernese Mountain Dog was presented with moderate intermittent lameness of the right thoracic limb, with pain localized to the elbow. Orthopedic examination revealed pain on manipulation of the right elbow, with a positive Campbell's test on the right, the left elbow was mildly uncomfortable. CT scan showed bilateral lesions. The right elbow was more severely affected with radioulnar joint incongruence, degeneration and fragmentation of the right medial coronoid process associated with atypical lesions of the proximal radial head characterized by focal radiolucency on the proximo-medial aspect of the RH. These lesions were suggestive of osteochondritis of the right RH. More subtle but similar lesions were observed affecting the left elbow.

Results:

Right elbow arthroscopy confirmed medial compartment disease. A fragmented medial coronoid process with a detached cartilage fragment and a focal cartilage thickening on the medial aspect of the RH were debrided. Excellent functional improvement of this right forelimb was reported. Mild lameness with mild pain on elbow palpation was still observed at 15-day follow-up, and no lameness or elbow pain was observed at midterm follow-up (6 weeks). The left forelimb was monitored periodically with the plan to schedule arthroscopic debridement if lameness became evident.

Conclusions:

Arthroscopic debridement of radial head osteochondritis resulted in satisfactory improvement of lameness. Good short- and medium-term functional outcomes were reported.