Risk factors analysis in humeral condyle fractures in the dog: retrospective study

The purpose of this study is to underline any possible risk factors about the pathogenesis of humeral condyle fracture through a retrospective analysis of all 12,220 dogs presented to our Section of Surgery and Emergency Care be-tween 1987 and 2003 and a comparison of our data with those reported in lit-erature. In this report, HCF was more frequent in hunting, adult, male dogs: they repre-sented 44.90% (44 of 98) of all the dogs with HCF, whereas only 22.31% (2,726 of 12,220) of general population. Non hunting dogs represented 55.10% (54 of 98) of dogs with HCF and 77.69% (9,494 on 12,220) of the general population. Hunting dogs had a frequency of HCF of 1.61% (44 on 2,726), the other groups of 0.57% (54 of 9,494). The difference between the two groups of attitude was significant (Fisher's test, p<0,000001). Biopsies taken from the intercondylar area, either in our own or in other studies, did not reveal chondrocyte or carti¬lage matrix. The finding of amorphous and necrotic material is a analogy with stress fracture. An intense captation of 99mTc-MDP in the affected elbow of our own and other studies was a finding similar to stress fractures. Hunting dogs live for the majority of the year in small boxes and during hunting sea¬son, after short period of intense training, they work hard and repetitively, of¬ten in bumpy ground. For this reason, and also due to the analogy that exists in the etiopathology of stress fractures in other species, we think that hunting might be an important risk factor for dogs in the etiology of HCF. Besides, the common finding in hunting dogs of incomplete intercondylar fissure may be the expression of a syndrome of pre-fracture which, because of continuing and violent stress transmitted through the radius on to the capitulum, might fall in fatigue fractures.