Screws popping out of bone

G

GChiu

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About 1 year ago, Indie tore his ligaments from a little jump and had surgery to insert 2 metal plates into his leg so that he may walk with the leg again.

The X-rays from today showed that screws had started popping off from the bone. I am so upset. Why didn't Indie tell me he was in pain...? Why are the screws coming out?! He'll need surgery again obviously, but I have to wait until Monday to hear what my vet has to say after consulting surgeons around the city.

I'm so worried about what they'll say. How can they put screws into Indie's tiny bone once more and is it possible... :confused2: What if they can't??
 
Sorry to hear this...screws can be removed , replaced will depend- was there any mention of infection or rejection ? The "cage" is in the bone so that is another story... I am sure your surgeon wants to make the right recommendation and needs some other opinions. You could always get a second opinion if you feel the need. Did Indie have any post op rehab ? Did Indie lick the sutures ? Hang in there and make sure your vet explains exactly what they will do and the likely outcome.
 
oh my that sounds painful and serious. I am sorry you have to worry yourself through the weekend. Maybe he is healing and doesn't feel any pain, is that possible?
 
I worked at one of the top orthopedic spine surgery practices for a number of years and we saw this type of thing occasionally. With the failed human fusions, screws could shift if the bone did not heal well, if the bone was not in great condition to begin with, or if the hardware either was not the correct hardware for the particular patient or the hardware was not installed properly, among other reasons. Patients with low or sub-optimal bone density were at a much greater risk for failed fusions - spongy bone doesn't give the screws anything to hold onto for the long term. A big problem we ran into was smokers; nicotine inhibits the formation of osteocytes, which in turn prevents the formation of new bone. New bone needs to form to "glue in" the hardware and nicotine, 1st or 2nd hand, will greatly slow down the process. We also had a lot of patients back for repairs because they didn't bother to correctly follow post-op instructions. I think in your case it's unlikely you had your pup running around like a wild banshee a week after surgery! But we had people picking up their 25-lb dogs a week after a lumbar fusion and then wondering why the fusion failed (no more than 10-lb lifting for 6 weeks...duh). Err on the side of caution with recovery, especially when the patient doesn't have the words to tell you if something is bothering him.

If it makes you feel any better, even in the human practice we occasionally found failed hardware in patients just having routine follow-up imaging, no symptoms. Sometimes 'stuff' happens.
 
I don't know any dogs that have had the screws loosen. But you might want to try the Yahoo Group called Orthodogs, as it does come up often there.
 
Good news. Indie is doing well now actually. Given the healthy state of his bone, the surgeon had decided to remove all the screws and plates.

Right now he's splinted so that bone will fill in the gaps the screws left.
 
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