Healed comminuted femoral fracture

This is an 8 week post op update on our recent femoral fracture repair in a 10 month old intact male Labrador cross. This dog suffered a road traffic accident and ended up with a comminuted left femoral diaphyseal fracture. The fracture was stabilized with a 14 hole LCP and a 6mm IMPeek rod. Autogenous bone graft was packed into the fracture defect. Within days the dog was weight bearing on the leg. The 8 week post op x-rays are attached below.

Healed peek rod and plate dog femur fracture

 

Fractured femur dog healed with plate and peek rod

As you can see from the radiographs above there is maintenance of the limb length and alignment, along with stable implants and completely bridged fracture gap by maturing callus. 

Despite these very encouraging radiographs, the dog's limb use is only fair at best at the moment, with marked atrophy and discomfort with hip extension and direct palpation of all of the muscles in the area. Thankfully, no evidence of quadriceps tie-down is evident and stifle flexion remains equal to the contralateral limb. Despite instructions to aggressively rehab the dog, the client had effectively been crating it and walking it only 10 minutes a day, which would explain the atrophy and muscle discomfort. 

I have recommended the client initiate the rehab program provided and attempt to regain the muscle mass lost over the next 8-10 weeks. Repeat radiographs will be performed in 8 weeks to monitor the progress of bone remodelling.