Femoral head and neck excision arthroplasty in 38 dogs: a two-year study with special reference to surgical indication and outcome

A study was done to find the outcome of femoral head and neck excision (FHNE) arthroplasty performed without muscle interposition in dogs with special reference to the indications for surgery and the outcome. The retrospective data from the records of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, School of Veterinary Medicine, The University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago for two years were collected on 38 dogs (39 hips) which underwent FHNE for various reasons. In all the dogs FHNE was performed without muscle interposition following the standard surgical approach and technique. The outcome of the surgery was based on the personal and telephonic conversation with the owners of the dogs and was based on the qualitative assessment by the owners as excellent, good, fair and poor. Based on the study, it was concluded that the FHNE arthroplasty without muscle interposition provided good to excellent outcome in 81.0% of cases. Results were encouraging especially in dogs weighing below 18 kg. Hence, it can be performed as salvage procedure for coxofemoral luxation due to trauma, canine hip dysplasia, femoral head/neck fracture, acetabular fracture and Legg Perthes disease.