Computed tomographic measurements of the femoral trochlea in dogs with and without medial patellar luxation

• Published in: Veterinary surgery 2023-04, Vol.52 (3), p.395-406
• Main Authors: Longo, Federico, Memarian, Parastoo, Knell, Sebastian Christoph, Contiero, Barbara, Pozzi, Antonio
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Computed tomography; Correlation coefficient; Correlation coefficients; Decision making; Dog Diseases - diagnostic imaging; Dogs; Femur; Femur - anatomy & histology; Femur - diagnostic imaging; Grooves; Inclination angle; Patellar Dislocation - diagnostic imaging; Patellar Dislocation - surgery; Patellar Dislocation - veterinary; ROC Curve; Sensitivity analysis; Tomography, X-Ray Computed - veterinary; Ulna; Variance analysis
• ISSN: 0161-3499; 1532-950X
• DOI: 10.1111/vsu.13903

Objectives To determine cutoff values in small (SB) and medium/large (MLB) breed dogs with and without medial patellar luxation (MPL) for identifying abnormal femoral trochlea morphology. Study design Original research. Animals A total of 80 computed tomographic (CT) scans from client‐owned dogs Methods Four groups of 20 dogs were created: (1) control SB, (2) control MLB, (3) MPL‐SB, and (4) MPL‐MLB. Two authors measured the femoral trochlear groove angle (FTGA), femoral trochlear angle (FTA), and femoral trochlear ridge inclination angle (FTRIA) in two points with CT. ANOVA and ROC‐analysis were tested to the control and MPL groups to assess sensitivity, specificity, and cutoff values. Statistical significance was set to p  128.3°, < −0.4°, < −0.4° (MLB). Sensitivity, specificity, and inter‐rater agreement were superior for FTGA than FTA and FTRIA. Conclusions Dogs without MPL had a deeper femoral trochlear groove than MPL dogs. SB had a shallower groove than MLB. The measurement of FTA and FTRIA was not reliable. Clinical relevance A FTGA