Surgical Correction of an Antebrachial Angular Limb Defonnity in a Golden Retriever Puppy
A 5 month-old intact female golden retriever puppy presented to Cornell University's Orthopedic Surgery Service for an angular limb deformity of the light forelimb of unknown etiology (trauma vs congenital vs combination) that was detected at five weeks of age. On gait analysis, she was partially weight bearing on her 1ight thoracic limb and displayed a compensatory drop in her shoulder when loading the right forelimb due to its shorter length. Computed Tomography (CT) revealed diffuse abnormalities of the right thoracic limb, including lateral subluxation of the radial head, radial and ulnar procurvatum, torsion, and carpal valgus with malformation of the paw and digits and a functional shortening of the light antebrachium. Surgical and palliative options were discussed with the owners, and they elected to proceed with surgery utilizing principles of the center of rotation of angulation (CORA) for angular correction. This multi-step procedure commenced first to correct the severe elbow incongruity by performing a bioblique dynamic proximal ulnar osteotomy (BODPUO) and secondarily to correct the severe lateral subluxation of the radial head by performing a radial wedge ostectomy with plate fixation and humeroradial fixation with transarticular Kirschner wire. The other thoracic limb deformities are to be addressed surgically at a later date, after physeal closure.