🔍 Key Findings Summary

• 20 shoulders from 11 medium-to-large breed dogs evaluated
• Lateral portals used: middle arthroscopic, caudal instrument, cranial egress
• Musculotendinous lesions unavoidable, but small (18G needle); seen in deltoideus (90%), infraspinatus, teres minor, etc.
• Neurovascular safety:
  • Caudal portal was closest to axillary artery/nerve branches (as close as 7 mm)
  • Only 2/20 shoulders (10%) had omobrachial vein penetrated
• Cartilage injuries (IACI) occurred in 65%, primarily minor linear defects; use of guarded cannulas and distractors suggested for minimization
• Supports overall safety of lateral shoulder arthroscopy with portal placement awareness

🔍 Key Findings

• Mediastinoscopy was technically feasible in large-breed canine cadavers using a SILS port and standard laparoscopic instruments.
• The left tracheobronchial lymph node (LTBLN) was successfully retrieved in all cadavers (7/7), while cranial mediastinal lymph nodes were retrieved in only 1/7.
• Postprocedural pleural gas was observed in 4/7 cadavers, likely due to CO₂ insufflation.
• Instrument limitations with a human-designed mediastinoscope led to preference for laparoscopic instruments and SILS port for improved access and visualization.
• Complication rates were low, with only two minor (Grade 1) adverse events (pleural tear and LN rupture).
• Obesity and mediastinal fat were cited as potential challenges to visualization and node retrieval.
• NASA-TLX workload scores were lowest for tracheobronchial nodes, indicating these were the easiest to access.
• The authors concluded this approach may facilitate minimally invasive biopsy or resection of cranial mediastinal masses in live dogs, but clinical trials are needed to validate safety and efficacy.

🔍 Key Findings

• Overall closure-related complication rate was 14.1%, lower than previously reported (17–78%).
• No clinically meaningful difference in complication rate between orthopedic wire (17.4%) and suture (11.5%) closure methods.
• Dog size (≥20 kg) was the only significant risk factor associated with increased closure-related complications (p = .01).
• Type of closure (wire vs. suture) did not affect risk, even in larger dogs.
• Suture closure showed a non-significant trend toward fewer complications (mean reduction 2.3%, 95% CI: –9.1% to +4.5%).
• Most complications were mild (62%), with only 10 severe cases requiring surgical revision.
• Infection rate was low (2.7%), and not significantly different between wire and suture.
• Suture closure is a valid alternative to wire, including in large dogs, based on this large, multi-institutional study.

🔍 Key Findings

• Lymphaticovenous anastomosis (TD to AV) was successfully performed in all 8 feline cadavers using a microvascular anastomotic coupler (MAC).
• Anastomotic patency was confirmed intraoperatively and postoperatively in 7/8 cats via contrast lymphography or retrograde venography.
• Dissection and anastomosis took a median of 120 minutes, with minimal technical complications.
• A 1.5 mm MAC was used in 6 cats, and a 2.0 mm in 2 cats; TD diameter ranged 1.0–1.5 mm, AV up to 2.25 mm.
• Challenges included vessel twisting and luminal patency issues, resolved intraoperatively with minor adjustments (e.g., repeat pinning, tacking suture).
• MAC use eliminated need for hand-suturing, lowering skill demands but requiring precise alignment.
• Technique provides direct lymphatic-to-venous drainage, potentially reducing the stimulus for collateral vessel formation.
• May serve as a future treatment option for feline idiopathic chylothorax, warranting further in vivo studies.

🔍 Key Findings

• Proximal Tibia Metatarsal Angle (PTMTA) was significantly increased in dogs with grade 3 and 4 MPL, making it a useful marker for severity.
• PTMTA strongly correlated with Tibial Torsion Angle (TTA) (r = 0.733) and Crural Rotation Angle (CRA) (r = 0.643), integrating multiple morphological deformities.
• Grade 4 MPL cases showed significant internal tibial torsion, increased mMPTA, and decreased MDTT/PTW—indicating both rotation and medial displacement.
• DTMTA was significantly more negative in grade 4, indicating a consistent pattern of internal foot rotation with disease severity.
• PTMTA can be visually assessed during palpation, offering preoperative utility without CT.
• Among toy poodles, PTMTA showed significant differences even between grades 3 and normal, suggesting breed-specific severity patterns.
• Corrective osteotomy may need to address tibial as well as femoral deformities in severe MPL cases with high PTMTA.
• Younger dogs with grade 4 MPL had more severe deformities, possibly due to early onset or developmental progression.

🔍 Key Findings

• A within-animal randomized controlled trial was performed in 32 adult cats undergoing ovariohysterectomy, allowing direct comparison of two intradermal skin-closure patterns in the same incision.
• Each 4-cm ventral midline incision was divided into cranial and caudal halves, randomly assigned to either a modified Allgower-Donati (mAD) intradermal pattern or a standard intradermal horizontal mattress pattern (SP).
• The modified Allgower-Donati pattern significantly increased wound-edge perfusion, whereas the standard intradermal horizontal mattress pattern decreased perfusion.
• Mean perfusion change was +59.7 ± 124.1 BPU with mAD versus −20.2 ± 119.9 BPU with SP (p < .01), demonstrating improved acute microcirculation with the mAD technique.
• Relative perfusion increased by 115.3% with mAD but decreased by 24.1% with SP, reinforcing the perfusion advantage of the modified pattern.
• The critical technical difference was suture bite orientation: mAD placed dermal bites perpendicular (90°) to the incision, while the standard pattern placed bites parallel and close to the wound edge.
• Both techniques used buried continuous intradermal closure with 4-0 poliglecaprone, maintaining the cosmetic and patient-comfort advantages of intradermal suturing.
• No incisional complications were reported within 30 days, although follow-up relied on re-presentation rather than scheduled examination, limiting detection of minor complications.

🔍 Key Findings

• Spaced instruction (SI) improved immediate performance on the first learned skill compared to massed instruction (MI) in both LSU and LMU cohorts.
• Cognitive load was higher in MI students at LMU, particularly in physical demand, effort, and frustration, while LSU showed no significant cognitive load differences.
• Skill performance differences disappeared after 2 weeks of supervised practice, regardless of instructional format.
• Time to complete skills improved over time, but this did not always correlate with improved checklist or global rating scores.
• Intrinsic cognitive load increased when teaching more complex or related surgical tasks in the same session.
• Initial skill complexity and prior exposure may influence effectiveness of spaced vs massed instruction.
• Supervised practice sessions are critical to eliminate initial skill disparities between instructional methods.
• Massed instruction may still be acceptable if followed by scheduled practice opportunities.

🔍 Key Findings

Objective: Validate a new 3D CT-based method for measuring tibial torsion in dogs with MPL, comparing it to a traditional method.

Sample: 40 tibiae from client-owned dogs with MPL (primarily small-breed).

Repeatability (intraobserver):

• New method: ICC = 0.99 → excellent agreement

Reproducibility (interobserver):

• New method: ICC = 0.83 → high agreement
• Traditional method: ICC = 0.52 → moderate agreement

Torsion angle measurements:

• New method avg: 16.00° ± 8.77
• Traditional method avg: 8.76° ± 4.92

Conclusion: The new method is more repeatable, reproducible, and provides higher torsion values than the traditional Aper method, especially reliable for small-breed dogs.

🔍 Key Findings Summary

• Ex vivo cadaver study using 5 paired canine thoracic limbs
• Compared medial opening wedge osteotomy (MOWO) and external rotational osteotomy (ERO) of the humerus
• Measured pressure changes in the medial compartment using thin-film sensors
• ERO significantly reduced peak pressure and pressure distribution in the medial elbow compartment (p < 0.05)
• MOWO showed no significant pressure reduction relative to native state
• Combined MOWO + ERO did not significantly improve over ERO alone
• Findings support the biomechanical rationale for ERO as a surgical strategy to offload the medial compartment in cases like medial compartment disease (MCD)