Abstract
A prospective clinical study consisting of six bovines (200–300 kg body weight) undergoing open tibial fractures was carried out, to evaluate the use of circular and hybrid external skeletal fixation (ESF) systems for open tibial fracture repair in large ruminants. The ESF systems consisting of 4 full rings (n = 2), 8 half-rings (n = 1), 2 full rings with 2 sidebars (n = 2) or 2 full rings with 4 sidebars (n = 1) were used to treat open tibial fractures. The healing progress of the animals was evaluated based on different clinical and radiographic examinations. The level of fracture reduction, alignment, and fixation ranged between satisfactory to adequate in all the animals. The fixators were well tolerated and maintained by the animals till the complete repair of the fracture. Adequate fracture healing with satisfactory functional recovery was observed in all the animals in about 3–4 months. The different designs of ESFs were found to provide adequate stability in open tibial fractures in animals weighing 200–300 kg. However, the fixators need to be evaluated in numerous clinical cases to establish their suitability in routine clinical settings.
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Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research for providing necessary facilities and funds under the All India Network Programme on Diagnostic Imaging and Management of Surgical Conditions in Animals.
Funding
The research project was conducted under the supervision of Dr. Prakash Kinjavdekar, Principal Scientist, Division of Surgery, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly, India and the project was funded under the All India Network Programme on Diagnostic Imaging and Management of Surgical Conditions in Animals (AINP-DIMSCA) by Indian Council Of Agricultural Research (ICAR).
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Mudasir Ahmad Shah designed the study, carried out the surgeries, formulated and drafted this manuscript, Prakash Kinjavdekar, Amarpal and H. P. Aithal formulated the basic idea of the study, supervised the whole study programme and helped in the drafting of this manuscript, Rohit Kumar, Mohammad Arif Basha and Asif Majid took an active part in arranging and carrying out surgeries.
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This study did not require official or institutional ethical approval as it was carried out on routine clinical cases presented at our hospital. However, consents were taken from animal owners before attempting surgical procedures.
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Shah, M.A., Kumar, R., Kinjavdekar, P. et al. The use of circular and hybrid external skeletal fixation systems to repair open tibial fractures in large ruminants: a report of six clinical cases. Vet Res Commun 46, 563–575 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11259-022-09884-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11259-022-09884-w