As a result of a road accident this German Shorthaired Pointer ended up with a fractured radius and ulna. With dogs this size, the only effective way of stabilising the fracture is to apply a bone plate to the surface of the bone. Intramedullary pinning, where a pin is inserted down the middle of the bone, is ineffective as the fracture site is very prone to rotation and bending.

The patient was anaesthetised and his leg was clipped and scrubbed. In the second picture you can see the leg prepared for surgery with sterile drapes attached to the skin surrounding the surgery site.

An incision is made over the fracture site and the fracture is exposed as in the third picture.

The fracture is reduced (brought back into correct alignment) and a stainless steel orthopaedic plate is placed against the bone. The two ends of the plate must extend beyond either side of the fracture to provide stability to the fracture site.

Using a sterile pneumatic drill, holes are drilled through the holes in the plate into the bone and each hole is then “tapped” (a thread is machined in using a special instrument). Next the plate is attached to the bone using orthopaedic screws. In these pictures you can see the drilling process and the plate screwed onto the radius.

Should the ulna also be fractured, as in this case, it does not generally need surgical stabilisation as well. This is because the ulna is a relatively minor bone in dogs and aligns and heals itself well, providing the radius has been stabilised appropriately.

The final x-ray shows the result.

Two months later good union can be seen to be developing in the plated radius and the ulna is also healing.