References
A study of short tibia syndrome and its association with cranial cruciate ligament degeneration in dogs
Abstract
Objective:
The purpose of this study was to describe the radiological findings of short tibia syndrome and its possible association with cranial cruciate ligament degeneration in dogs.
Methods:
A retrospective study calculated limb length discrepancy, with a particular emphasis on the tibia, using entire hind limb radiographs taken from 84 dogs with long progressive ligamentous degeneration and subsequent rupture of the cranial cruciate ligament and a control group. The control group was subdivided into two groups; group A consisted of nine dogs that had a definite traumatic injury to the stifle before the rupture of the cranial cruciate ligament and had no histological evidence of ligament degeneration, and group B consisted of 22 healthy dogs which had no history, clinical or radiological evidence supporting a diagnosis of cranial cruciate ligament degeneration or rupture, but presented with other orthopaedic conditions that required radiographs of both hind limbs to be performed.
Results:
In the study population group, all 84 dogs had a statistically significant total limb length discrepancy measurement because of significant underlying tibial asymmetry. Entire hind limbs radiographs showed one tibia appearing shorter than the other and different grades of stifle osteoarthritis. The radiographic investigation showed that 67% of the inter-observer inter-class correlation coefficients had high correlation and the remaining 33% had good correlation.
Conclusions:
Short tibia syndrome was consistently associated with stifle joint instability, cruciate ligament disease and progressive osteoarthritis. The radiographic investigation made by the three observers showed that tibial measurements were repeatable and reproducible, and the selected tibial measurement protocol had good to high correlation and was therefore dependable and reliable.
Comerford et al (2006) performed studies on tibial anatomy to determine if there were any identifiable anatomical features which might be correlated with the presence of cruciate ligament disease, finding the anatomy of the femoral intercondylar notch to be the only consistent feature. Ragetly et al (2012) also found that radiographic combination of high tibial plateau angle and femoral anteversion angle are anatomical features that can be used to identify dogs at high risk of cruciate ligament disease. A discrepancy in tibial length has not been identified previously in the veterinary literature as anatomical feature to identify dogs at greater risk of cruciate ligament disease.
It has been reported that changes in the femur:tibia length ratio influence ligament development (Doige et al, 1978; Leipold et al, 1978; Baird et al, 1994; Johnson et al, 1994; Speigel et al, 2003; Kowaleski et al, 2012; Towle and Bruer, 2012). In most cases, the specific cause of long bone deficiency is unknown. Tibial shortening has an identifiable hereditary pattern; the presence of extraskeletal abnormalities in some of these cases, for example cardiac malformation and retained testicles, should suggest that the syndrome may have a familial basis (Poznanski et al, 1971; Doige et al, 1978; Sorge et al, 1995; Bedoya et al, 2015).
Register now to continue reading
Thank you for visiting UK-VET Companion Animal and reading some of our peer-reviewed content for veterinary professionals. To continue reading this article, please register today.