doggy update - no ligament surgery - TPLO instead

[BillK]

Well I had the consult with the orthopedic vet yesterday and due to our lab's activity level (hyper) and size (about 65 pounds) - she didn't feel ligament reconstruction/replacement surgery would be best for her.

Instead she recommended Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy (TPLO) where the angle of the tibial plateau is altered by making a circular cut in the top of the tibia and then rotating the piece so that the load-bearing surface of the bone is flat. A plate is then attached to hold the piece of bone in this new position as it heals.

So....anyone here have any experience with TPLO surgery? I'm really worried about her and the approximate recovery time of 8 to 16 weeks. :(

[Bethvet]

I just want to let you know that I agree with your orthopedist. There is no perfect surgery, but for an active dog the TPLO or TTA(Tibial Tuberosity Advancement) are better choices. With any of the knee surgeries you will have downtime, but the repair is more solid with these 2 surgery types, and so you will hopefully have less arthritis develop as well as a longer lasting repair. Between the two types I would go with your orthopedics recommendation, as he will know with which surgery he's had the best results. I've had an orthopedist tell me he likes the TTA surgery better, but don't have experience of my own with it yet.

Also, I'm sure that you have been told this, but there is a greater than 50% chance of a cranial cruciate rupture in the other leg in the next 12 months due to the increased load that the leg is bearing.

[BillK]

ugh....no one told me that until today (I just dropped her off before work for her surgery later today). I asked the vet tech that took her and she said yes - they see that happen a fair amount. :nodno:

Her limp only presented itself about 2 weeks ago - and since then she's been confined to just 1 floor and not been talking walks or anything other than her peepee and poo trips outside. Do you think that would help to lessen the likelyhood of the other side going in the near future?

I can't imagine having to live through this two times in less than a couple of years. :(

[nrp]

We had TPLO surgery on our 85-lb lab (I think I responded to your earlier thread - so pardon the redundancy). He was about 1.5 when he had the surgery, and he's 3 now. He did great, and within 4-6 weeks he was much improved and didn't require much supervision. I would say by the 3-month mark he was 80% back to normal, but with a lot of atrophy. Now, as I said in my last post, we can't really tell a difference between his "bad" and "good" legs. We researched and came to the same conclusion about the TPLO - better long-term outcomes with bigger dogs. So far we've been lucky about him not injuring the other leg, so we're keeping our fingers crossed.