Excision Arthroplasty for Treatment of a Chronic Traumatic Medial Scapulohumeral Joint Luxation in a Dog

65 Scapulohumeral Joint Luxation in a Dog INTRODUCTION Excision arthroplasty has been proposed as an alternative procedure for salvage of the canine scapulohumeral joint that cannot be effectively treated by conventional techniques (1, 2). Two techniques of excision shoulder arthroplasty have been described. In one technique, only an ostectomy of the glenoid cavity of the scapula was performed (1). In a report, 8 of 10 dogs treated with this technique suffered from medial shoulder luxation (1). One 8 month old dog suffered from degenerative joint disease (DJD) as a result of congenital joint surface incongruity, and one dog had a five-week-old comminuted glenoid fracture. Duration of lameness prior to treatment ranged from 3 weeks to 3.5 months. Follow-up period ranged from 5 months to 6 years and results of surgery were good to excellent (1). An alternative technique was described by Breuker and Piermattei (2). In this technique shoulder arthroplasty was performed by ostectomy of both the glenoid cavity of the scapula and the humeral head. Three dogs were treated using this technique (2). One of the dogs had a recent comminuted fracture of the glenoid cavity, and the second had DJD that resulted in a left forelimb lameness which progressed to a non-weight-bearing lameness over an 8 month period. The third dog suffered from bilateral medial shoulder luxation of 5 months duration. Follow-up period ranged from 12 to 62 months and all three dogs regained pain-free use of their Excision Arthroplasty for Treatment of a Chronic Traumatic Medial Scapulohumeral Joint Luxation in a Dog