Sacro-Iliac Luxation and Cage Rest

Re: Sacro-Iliac Luxation and Cage Rest

Malcolm Ness — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 15:51:13 GMT

SI luxation is very rarely, if ever, an isolated injury - expect and look for at least one other pelvic structural lesion - and consequently it is simply not possible to prognosticate meaningfully without a knowledge of the concomitant injuries.

That said, SI separations will heal with the expectation of an excellent functional and cosmetic outcome in almost every case - even when there is significant displacement. I do not recognise the 20% neuro injury figure - I don't think it comes from a publication and in my experience, neuro deficits in association with SI luxation are rare - 2% rather than 20% would be my guesstimate. In addition, loss of deep pain perception due to injury of a peripheral nerve should carry a very poor prognosis. Surgical fixation of SI separation in cats (single, long lag screw) is relatively straight forward but something I do relatively infrequently because of the good conservative prognosis. Most often I will fix SI separations if I am in there already fixing something more important or if there is significant displacement, instability and/or pain.

Re: Sacro-Iliac Luxation and Cage Rest

Niall Taylor — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 22:20:22 GMT

[quote user="Jillian Hall"]Based on feline surgery CPD at RVC last week: 20% cats with SI luxation have neuro deficits and of those 80% will regain nerve function. This can take up to 3 mths, and the prognosis is worse if there is no deep pain present (although not hopeless). If there aren't neuro deficits, they didn't give any precise stats but I would suggest the prognosis is v good given enough time. Indications for surgery would be severe pain or lameness, bilateral injuries, neuro defects or displacement exceeding 50% of the length of the joint surface.

[/quote]

Did they give any references?

Niall

Re: Sacro-Iliac Luxation and Cage Rest

Luciano Nebiante PGCertSAS — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 21:34:32 GMT

Many thanks Jillian. Helpful informations, although seems that there are no studies published on this matter, or at least I'm not aware of any.

Re: Sacro-Iliac Luxation and Cage Rest

Jillian Hall — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 10:15:14 GMT

Not specifically, but just the vague sweeping statement of 'most' do 'well' eventually. My own experience would be that these cats rarely have noticable long term lameness if it's just been a SI luxation because everything stays reasonably symmetrical, as opposed to if there are other pelvic fractures where the outcome will be much more variable.

Re: Sacro-Iliac Luxation and Cage Rest

Luciano Nebiante PGCertSAS — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 19:28:39 GMT

Hi Jillian,

interesting stats. Did they say anything about recover from lameness, regaining a fair to normal gait?

Cheers

Re: Sacro-Iliac Luxation and Cage Rest

Jillian Hall — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 15:39:07 GMT

Based on feline surgery CPD at RVC last week: 20% cats with SI luxation have neuro deficits and of those 80% will regain nerve function. This can take up to 3 mths, and the prognosis is worse if there is no deep pain present (although not hopeless). If there aren't neuro deficits, they didn't give any precise stats but I would suggest the prognosis is v good given enough time. Indications for surgery would be severe pain or lameness, bilateral injuries, neuro defects or displacement exceeding 50% of the length of the joint surface.