When Rhett and his owner were
visiting his parents, someone accidentally left a gate
open. Out Rhett went into oncoming traffic. A very well
protected canine was he, so he knew very little about
cars. As a soon to be two year old Labrador Retriever, he
wanted to find some fun. Unfortunately, an injury to his
front leg was the result. He suffered a transverse radius
and ulna fracture.
Rhett's surgery involved the
installation of a metal system called a Kirschner-Ehmer
Apparatus. Pins are placed perpendicular to the bone and
connected outside the leg with clamps and bars. Rhett also
benefited from treatment of the fracture site with a bone
graft from his shoulder. This serves to accelerate
healing.
Here is Rhett's
post-operative radiograph. The alignment is very good.
There is a bar on each side of the device. The one on the
right is a carbon fiber composite bar which does not show
up on radiographs.
Here is our patient
the next day, placing most of his weight on the injured
leg. That is the best evidence that the repair is strong.
The outcome should be good, but we will monitor his
progress very carefully. As of now he has a couple months
to go.
Here is our boy at 10 weeks post-op. He is still
using his leg fully. Radiographs taken a few weeks previously
show that the fracture is nearly healed. We decided to remove
all of his implants at this point. Rhett is sedated and and
restored to his normal state.
On waking up from the
sedative Rhett is quite willing to place normal weight on
the healed leg. He and his very patient owner are excited
that this ordeal is finally over!
