Surgical repair of Salter-Harris type II fracture of the distal humerus: short and long-term outcomes in a case series of three dogs and one cat

ABSTRACT

Case histories

Three dogs and one cat sustained forelimb trauma and were presented to a university veterinary clinic (Liège, Belgium) and a private veterinary hospital (Beacouzé, France). All four animals were referred for surgery.

Clinical findings

Two dogs and the cat were ambulatory on admission but unable to bear weight on the affected limb. One dog was non-ambulatory and lacked voluntary movement and sensation in one forelimb. Salter-Harris type II fractures of the distal humerus were diagnosed by radiography in all cases; avulsion of the brachial plexus and pelvic fractures were also present in the non-ambulatory dog.

Treatment and outcome

All Salter-Harris type II fractures were stabilised by open reduction and internal fixation with cross pins. One minor complication (seroma) and three major complications (implant migration) developed after surgery. The pins were completely removed in one case and partially removed in two cases to resolve these complications. At the final follow-up examination (12–31 months after surgery), owners reported no lameness in three of the four cases and grade 2/5 left forelimb lameness in one case.

Clinical relevance

This type of fracture is rarely described in the literature; however, it should be included in the differential diagnoses of traumatic humeral fractures in growing dogs and cats. In this case series, we achieved fair-to-excellent short-term and long-term outcomes after osteosynthesis of Salter-Harris type II fractures by cross pinning.

KEYWORDS:

• Salter-Harris type II fracture
• distal humeral fracture
• fracture management
• cats
• dogs

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr Leah Cannon for the English language editing of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.