Torn Acl

[oldrunners]

I'm asking for my daughter's dog, who tore her ACL in a tumble, a complete tear. She lives in Mexico. The TTA procedure is done more frequently in Europe and Mexico, and the TPLO almost always is done in the US. The TTA is less invasive, but both procedures carry risks of various types. Lua just turned 6, is active and fit, and weighs about 19 kilos (42 lbs). She is a mutt, but there must be some spitz in her background, because she looks like a heavyset fox. Does anyone have experience with either procedure? She has the option of having the TTA done in Mexico with the orthopedist in her regular vet's practice, who is experienced and confident, or going to her vet in LA for the TPLO and spending a minimum of 7 times as much, which she will do if that surgery really is better.

Thank you in advance for any comments, yay or nay.

[Houndtime]

No opinion; just sorry to read of her dog's injury.

[Hubcitypam]

Here it depends on the vet. Some vets are fine with fishing line surgery (as my one vet calls it) and some treat it like it is out of the dark ages. I had one done with fishing line and he seemed fine to me but the next vet he went to threw a fit that it wasn't TPLO. For the record the ortho at the surgical specialty center much preferred TPLO but was not totally opposed to fishing line. He told me if anything goes wrong with the fishing line procedure it usually isn't too bad but if TPLO goes wrong it goes WAY wrong. That was probably was no help at all....

[oldrunners]

Thank you. At this point, she can use ANY info to help her make a decision. She is now sending me medical studies to review!

[tbhounds]

Personally I would use the vet she’s comfortable with. Both procedures carry different risks and benefits. If she’s happy with the vet in Mexico I would then favor the TTA.

[oldrunners]

Thank you!

[krissy]

The two procedures are relatively equal, just different. Which one is done usually comes down to surgeon preference or what the circumstances were of their learning. For example, my boss does TPLOs, so that's what I'm learning. If he did TTAs I would be learning that instead. One of the orthopedic surgeons at our local referral told me he actually learned and performed both for quite some time, but for whatever reason in HIS hands he always got better results with TPLO so that's all he does now. He did stress to me that he didn't think it was because TPLO is inherently better, but that for some reason he personally gets better results with it. There are a couple of local vets that do TTAs with equal success to what others get with TPLO.

 

I don't think the question is so much which procedure, as which surgeon. She should pick the surgeon or clinic that she is more comfortable with or that she has better access to in the post-operative period in case of complications.

[oldrunners]

Thank you!

[GeorgeofNE]

It depends on the dog. My dog was a 75 pound 5 year old when he tore his ACL in a complete traumatic rupture.

 

Long, long story--

 

$15,000 later, he was a six year old who survived a near-fatal bone infection. And that was going to a board certified surgeon at a teaching vet hospital.

 

He had a TPLO. He also had a fairly rare complication, bone infection, but if I had it to do over, I would have just amputated his leg. I would have been less painful and traumatic for him, and way, way, way less money for me. Full disclosure: my dear father ponied up most of the $$ for the surgery. I would have had to euthanize the dog, which seemed wrong at 5 years of age. I simply did not have the money.

[oldrunners]

Thank you.