Radiology is valuable for the detection of bone healing and implant failure complications after tibial osteotomy procedures for canine cruciate ligament disease. However, improvement in signs of lameness is the principal means of monitoring return of limb function. There are various lameness-scoring systems for dogs, but these are subjective and inaccurate, especially when the data have been derived from medical records for retrospective clinical investigations.

It is encouraging to see the steady growth of use of force plates and pressure mats to record lameness in prospective clinical investigations of canine osteoarthritic diseases, to objectively measure outcome during the recovery. These are not easy studies to conduct well, and they are expensive. Amongst the four papers about cruciate ligament disease in this issue of the Journal, two are prospective clinical studies using force plate gait analysis of dogs after tibial plateau levelling osteotomy.

The first of these studies was of dogs weighing less than 15 kg with cranial cruciate ligament disease that underwent a tibial plateau levelling osteotomy stabilized with a locking plate. Gait analysis done before surgery, and then at four intervals up to 6 months found that hindlimb symmetry index was significantly improved 1 month after surgery, and near normal by 6 months. Also noted was that the remaining width of the tibial tuberosity, cranial to the osteotomy, was 6.9 mm and 26% of the overall craniocaudal width of the tibia. The mean preoperative tibial plateau angle was 30.9 degrees; consequently, the tibial plateau was rotated beyond the so-called safe point in 6/12 dogs, without any instances of complications, such as tuberosity fracture, once again failing to support the hypothesis that rotation of the tibial plateau beyond the safe point carries a risk of complications. Both gait analysis studies and tibial plateau levelling osteotomy are difficult to perform in small breed dogs, but these findings provide support for this approach in treating cranial cruciate ligament disease in small dogs.

The second randomized prospective force plate study compared outcome after tibial plateau levelling osteotomy with the modified Maquet procedure. Since cruciate disease requiring surgery was often bilateral, the force plate data of limb function were compared with a control group of unaffected Labrador dogs, and not the contralateral hindlimb. The greatest improvement in limb function after both surgical procedures was in the first 6 weeks. At 6 months, in comparison to the control group, the peak vertical force and vertical impulse for the tibial plateau levelling osteotomy dogs (94 and 86%, respectively) and modified Maquet procedure dogs (89 and 80%, respectively) were not significantly different. In the hands of these surgeons, either of these surgical procedures could be recommended for dogs weighing 20 to 35 kg. Of course, keeping in mind that the success of any surgical procedure is predicated on the skill and experience of the surgeon and not just the technical merit of the surgical procedure per se.

放射学对于检测犬交叉韧带疾病胫骨截骨手术后的骨愈合和植入失败并发症很有价值。然而，跛行体征的改善是监测肢体功能恢复的主要手段。犬的跛行评分系统有多种，但这些系统都是主观且不准确的，尤其是当数据来自用于回顾性临床调查的医疗记录时。

令人鼓舞的是，在犬骨关节炎疾病的前瞻性临床研究中，使用测力台和压力垫来记录跛行的使用稳步增长，以客观地衡量恢复过程中的结果。这些研究并不容易进行，而且费用昂贵。在本期杂志的四篇关于十字韧带疾病的论文中，有两篇是前瞻性临床研究，在胫骨平台整平截骨后对狗进行测力板步态分析。

这些研究中的第一个是体重小于 15 公斤的患有颅交叉韧带疾病的狗，这些狗经历了胫骨平台水平截骨术，并用锁定板稳定。术前进行步态分析，然后每4次间隔长达6个月，发现术后1个月后肢对称性指数显着改善，6个月后接近正常。还注意到胫骨结节的剩余宽度，即截骨术的颅骨，为 6.9 毫米，占胫骨总颅尾宽度的 26%。术前平均胫骨平台角为 30.9 度；因此，6/12 犬的胫骨平台旋转超过所谓的安全点，没有任何并发​​症，例如结节骨折，再次未能支持胫骨平台旋转超过安全点会带来并发症风险的假设。步态分析研究和胫骨平台整平截骨术在小型犬中都难以进行，但这些发现为这种治疗小型犬颅十字韧带疾病的方法提供了支持。

第二项随机前瞻性测力台研究比较了胫骨平台平整截骨术与改良 Maquet 手术后的结果。由于需要手术的交叉疾病通常是双侧的，因此将肢体功能的测力板数据与未受影响的拉布拉多犬对照组进行比较，而不是对侧后肢。两次手术后肢体功能的最大改善发生在前 6 周。6 个月时，与对照组相比，胫骨平台整平截骨犬（分别为 94% 和 86%）和改良 Maquet 手术犬（分别为 89% 和 80%）的峰值垂直力和垂直脉冲没有显着差异. 在这些外科医生的手中，这些外科手术中的任何一种都可以推荐用于体重 20 至 35 公斤的狗。当然，