Medial Pantarsal Arthrodesis with Compact UniLock 2.0 Locking Plate System in a Cat

• Published in: Open veterinary journal (Tripoli, Libya) Vol. 10; no. 4; pp. 465 - 470
• Main Authors: Botto , Riccardo, Piccionello , Angela Palumbo, Di Bella , Caterina, Pennasilico , Luca
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tarabulus - Libya Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tripoli 01.01.2020; Faculty of Veterinary Medicine; Tripoli University
• Subjects: BONE DISEASES; BRITTLENESS; Case Report; CATS; internal fixator; JOINT DISEASES; LIMB BONES; medial plate; pantarsal arthrodesis; tarsal injury; unilock system; VETERINARY MEDICINE; أمراض العظام; أمراض المفاصل; الطب البيطري; القصافة; القطط; عظام الأطراف; Pantarsal arthrodesis; Internal fixator; Tarsal injury; Medial plate; UniLock system
• ISSN: 2226-4485; 2218-6050; 2218-6050
• DOI: 10.4314/ovj.v10i4.15

Pantarsal arthrodesis is a salvage procedure carried out for the treatment of tarsal joint disease, including severe osteoarthritis with intractable pain in the tarsocrural joint, tarsal fractures, shearing injuries, tarsocrural joint instability, and failure of the common calcaneal tendon. Although medial plating is preferable, the high incidence of post-surgery complications is possible. Using thin, pre-contouring or easy contouring, locking plates might reduce the incidence of such complications. However, to date, there are no pre-contouring and dedicated locking plates for pantarsal arthrodesis with medial placement. The case of an 18-month-old female stray European cat has been referred because of a severe tibiotarsal injury improperly treated with an intramedullary pin. The patient was submitted for medial pantarsal arthrodesis, performed with the Compact UniLock 2.0™ locking plate systema (DePuy Synthes, Oberdorf, Switzerland). The authors hypothesized that this particularly innovative osteosynthesis system could present advantages compared to the systems already in use for medial pantarsal arthrodesis and therefore reduce the risk of complications. This innovative titanium locking system, because of its versatile contour function and thinness, allowed the good functional recovery of the limb and showed numerous advantages over traditional systems.