COLUMBIA, Mo. (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- A common sports injury in human knees is even more prevalent in dogs. Every year, about 1 million canines undergo surgery for torn ligaments in their knees. A new procedure is offering a quicker and easier way to ease their pain.
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Stephanie Gilliam knew something wasn't right when her dog Payton struggled to get up.
"My dogs are my kids, and it was very important to me for him not to be in pain and be able to live a healthy, normal life," Gilliam told Ivanhoe.
When she learned of a new veterinary surgery to fix Payton's knee, she jumped at the chance.
"Owners are looking for it, quite frankly," James Cook, D.V.M., Ph.D., a veterinary orthopaedic surgeon at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Mo., told Ivanhoe. "They want the same quality of surgery ... as they would in themselves."
Dr. Cook developed the tightrope procedure to fix cranial-cruciate-ligament, or CCL, deficiencies in dogs. It's a method adapted from human ankle surgeries.
"The reason it's so common is that it seems to be a degenerative process in dogs," Dr. Cook said.
The procedure involves cleaning up joint tissue and meniscus, protective cartilage at the knee joint, and stabilizing the knee ligament by inserting a "tightrope" into the leg through a small incision. Then, the veterinarian drills through leg bones and anchors the device to the bones.
"It really just replaces the function of that ligament by going through bone tunnels, and it's a really nice suture device that we can place with very small incisions," Dr. Cook said.
Dr. Cook says the procedure has less potential for serious complications and a quicker recovery time than traditional surgery that involves cutting a dog's bone.
Gilliam is pleased with Payton's new knee.
"Once he gets up and takes off running, you'd never know anything ever happened," Gilliam said.
After the tightrope procedure, most dogs, like Payton, are back on their feet in about 12 weeks. Not all dogs are candidates for the procedure. They must weigh more than 40 pounds and have no other medical issues. The surgery costs between $2,200 and $2,400.
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