Use of a Novel Osteotomy Guide (Bonetractor) for Closing Wedge Osteotomies: Ex vivo Evaluation of Osteotomy Accuracy

Introduction: Wedge osteotomies are a common orthopedic procedure performed to treat various conditions in animals and people. In particular, closing wedge osteotomies (CWO) are frequently performed for the correction of angular limb deformities and cranial cruciate ligament disease in dogs. Osteotomy accuracy is essential for proper alignment, reduction, and appropriate implant placement. In people, procedure-specific osteotomy guides are used to improve accuracy. However, such guides are not utilized in veterinary medicine, and none of the currently available devices allow for accurate completion of a coplanar wedge osteotomy. The goal of this research was to design a device that produces consistent, coplanar CWOs. We hypothesized that this device would produce osteotomies that are more accurate than osteotomies created using standard technique.

Materials and Methods: A 20° cranial CWO (CCWO) was performed utilizing 16 (n = 8/group) tibia Sawbones. CCWO was created without (standard procedure; STCCWO) and with the aid of the ‘wedge osteotomy BoneTractor device’ (BTCCWO). The wedges were evaluated for accuracy by comparing wedge angle, divergence of the 2 osteotomies (osteotomy divergence angle [ODA]), and measurements from medial and lateral aspect of the wedges. Mean values of two groups were compared using t-tests.

Results: ODA (cranial and caudal) and the difference between the medial and lateral measurements were significantly smaller (all p < 0.01) between groups, with the BTCCWO group being smaller. There was no significant difference in wedge angle created between groups.

Discussion/Conclusion: The BoneTractor improved the accuracy of CCWO compared with standard technique.

Acknowledgment: The primary investigator (FD) designed the device used in this study.