Abstract
Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate outcomes and complications of dogs that had
pancarpal arthrodesis (PCA) using a titanium hybrid advanced locking plate system
(ALPS) and stainless steel hybrid dynamic compression plate (HDCP).
Study Design Retrospective observational study.
Methods Medical records (2007–2020) were reviewed for cases that had PCA performed using
ALPS or HDCP. Implant characteristics including metacarpal coverage (MCov), metacarpal
width occupied by screw diameter percentage and carpal arthrodesis angle (CAA), complications
and outcomes were recorded.
Results Pancarpal arthrodesis was performed with ALPS on 15 limbs from 12 dogs, and HDCP
on 14 limbs from 11dogs. Median follow-up time was 1,157 days (range: 62–1,902 days)
for ALPS group and 340 days (range: 43–1,465 days) for HDCP. Median MCov for ALPS
group was 74% (range: 60–87.5%) compared with 56.5% (range: 49.7–91.3%) for HDCP (p = 0.001). There was no difference in CAA and metacarpal width to screw diameter percentage
between ALPS and HDCP group. Major and minor complications and surgical site infection
rates were not statistically different between the two groups. Plate fracture occurred
in 2/15 ALPS PCA and screw loosening occurred in 4/14 HDCP PCA. Full function was
achieved in 8/12 and 8/11 of ALPS and HDCP cases, respectively, which was not statistically
different (p = 0.76).
Conclusion The use of ALPS offers comparable performance to HDCP for PCA
Keywords
pancarpal arthrodesis - advanced locking plate system - hybrid dynamic compression
plate - Dog - carpus
