Factors of choising the timing of the patella luxation surgical treatment in dogs

Musculoskeletal system diseases are in the first place in the structure of dogs’ admission to veterinary clinics. Lameness in dogs are diagnosed in about 70% of the cases in the hind limb, whereof about 50% are attributed to the knee joint. One of the most frequently diagnosed pathologies of the knee joint is the patella luxation (PL). The aim of our study is to determine a relation between the development of comorbid pathologies of the knee joint (such as patella luxation, cranial cruciate ligament disease, osteoarthritis) with the degree of dislocation, age, general condition of the animal, changes in hematological and biochemical parameters of blood, and based on this to justify the need for PL surgical treatment at an earlier age. The study was conducted at the facilities of St. Petersburg State University of Veterinary Medicine and VEGA veterinary clinic chain in the city of St. Petersburg, Russia. The study was carried out on 48 dogs with different breeds, gender and age, with varying PL grade, which had not previously undergone knee joint surgical treatment. The animals were allocated into two groups depending on the knee joint concurrent pathologies: 20 dogs with PL only — in group 1, 28 dogs with knee joint polypathologies (PL, cranial cruciate ligament disease, and osteoarthritis) — in group 2. According to the results of statistical analysis using the Mann-Whitney U-test, the average age (3.4 years and 6.9 years, respectively) and the degree of lameness (2.0 and 3.0, respectively) are statistically significantly different in dogs of the 1st and 2nd groups. There are also statistically significant differences in the levels of segmented neutrophils (5.8 and 9.6×10^3/mkl in dogs of the 1st and 2nd groups, respectively) and lymphocytes (7.2 and 9.6×10^3/ mkl, respectively). A statistically significant increase of the serum concentration of bilirubin, ALT, alkaline phosphatase, GGT and triglycerides was detected.
The obtained results allow to recommend surgical treatment of PL at an earlier age, since in the absence of timely treatment, comorbid knee joint arthropathies, such as PL, cranial cruciate ligament disease, osteoarthritis, develop, which requires more serious surgical interventions against the background of a more severe general condition of animals.

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