34th Annual Scientific Meeting proceedings

Objectives:

In dogs, arthroscopy is most commonly performed for the elbow. The most common arthroscopic portal for the elbow is the medial portal (1). This portal is located just distal or distal and caudal to the tip of the medial epicondyle of the humerus. Some researchers have suggested that a caudomedial arthroscopic portal allows better visualisation of the medial and caudal elbow compartments (2). The caudomedial portal is created just caudal to the caudal aspect of the medial humeral epicondyle, adjacent to the ulnar nerve.
The aim of this study was to determine the risk of ulnar nerve injury following caudomedial arthroscopic portal placement.

Methods:

The study included 30 canine cadavers euthanised for reasons unrelated to this study, 15 males and 15 females, aged 6-14 years (median: 9 years, IQR: 8-11 years) and weighing 10-30 kg (median: 20 kg, IQR: 17-24 kg).

Results:

Ulnar nerve injury occurred in 16 / 30 dogs (53%; CI 95%: 36%, 70%) - in 11 dogs in one elbow (7 dogs left, 4 dogs right) and in 5 dogs the injury was bilateral.

Conclusions:

In our study, the creation of a caudomedial arthroscopic portal was associated with a high risk of ulnar nerve damage.