DVSc, LA Surgery Resident Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Association of Clinical Parameters with Postoperative Complications Following Arthroscopy of the Tibiotarsal Joint of Horses: Retrospective Study January 2011 to July 2020. Merchan Munoz A, Koenig J, Côté N, Cribb N, Gabrielle G. University of Guelph, Ontario Veterinary College, Guelph, ON, Canada.
The objective of this retrospective study was to determine the rate of joint-related complications after elective arthroscopy of the tibiotarsal joint in 329 horses, and their association with clinical parameters. Data were collected from medical records of horses undergoing elective tibiotarsal joint arthroscopy, and of horses with postoperative joint-related complications that were referred back to the hospital. Exact conditional univariate regression was used to determine significant risk factors for joint-related postoperative complications. Of 485 joints, two (0.4%) developed surgical site infection, four (0.8%) developed septic arthritis, and one (0.2%) developed synovial fistula. There were significantly increased odds of having septic arthritis as height and length of the DIRT lesion increased: the mean height and length of the DIRT fragments in affected cases was 13.2 mm and 18.07 mm, respectively. For each unit increase in height there was a 42% increase in the risk of septic arthritis occurrence (P = 0.0042); and a 15% increase for each unit increase in length (P = 0.035). Horses were significantly less likely to develop septic arthritis when suture smaller than USP 0 was used. Horses with larger OCD lesions have an increased risk for developing septic arthritis following removal than horses with smaller fragments.