Section IV
Surgical Treatment
Introduction
A large number of different surgical proce-
dures have been described for the treatment of
stifle instability in dogs, and decision-making
regarding surgical treatment for cruciate liga-
ment rupture (CR) remains controversial. Cur-
rently, widely used surgical procedures are
aimed at the treatment of stifle instability,
and not reconstruction or repair of the rup-
tured cranial cruciate ligament. Stabilization is
accomplished either by osteotomy of the tibia
or by extracapsular stabilization. Historically,
by extrapolation from surgical treatment of
human patients with anterior cruciate ligament
rupture, intra-articular stabilization procedures
have also been popular. Although initial results
in experimental dogs were promising, the use of
intra-articular grafting procedures has become
less popular over time. Recent studies of surgi-
cal treatment have challenged the widely held
belief that stifle instability is the primary rea-
son for lameness, particularly in chronically
affected dogs with meniscal damage.
This section provides a detailed discussion of
current surgical procedures used for the treat-
ment of dogs affected with CR. Several new
chapters have been added to this section to
reflect advances in knowledge of surgical treat-
ment of CR over the past five years.169