RE: radial/ulna fractures in toy breeds with cranial-caudal ESF pin placement

James Dunne — Fri, 31 May 2019 22:17:58 GMT

Some thoughts: in toy breed dogs, most of the fractures are distal and most are non-comminuted and easily reduced. Plating is far easier than ESF in these cases and they tend to do very well. I have used type I(b) frames cranially in some open fractures and they do well. I think using a type II frame in the radius cranio-caudally is risky since neurovascular structures are more likely to be damaged as well as more musculotendinous units penetrated, and there were a significant number of complications in the paper highlighted. It may be a useful technique where plate repair is unaffordable though and is likely to have a better outcome than cast repair in this population of patients.