Vetcision: Veterinary Surgery of New England-TPLO

There are still very few clinical studies on the Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy (TPLO) procedure. The following recommendations are based upon the experience of Drs. Huss and Benson. Dr. Huss started performing the TPLO procedure in 1997, and currently has performed thousands of TPLO surgeries.

TPLO surgery at Vetcision

TPLO plates L to R 2.0 mm Slocum, 2.7, 3.5 and 3.5 mm broad NGD

The TPLO instrumentation and implants have expanded to 4 different size bi-radial saw blades (14, 18, 24 & 30 mm radius) and 4 different size plates (2.0, 2.7 3.5 mm & 3.5 mm broad). This range of sizes permits a surgeon the ability to perform the TPLO procedure on animals ranging in size from approximately 10 pounds to over 250 pounds. The smallest size TPLO plate (2.0 mm) is equivalent in size to human finger plates. The tiny plates are even more technically demanding to implant than the already demanding standard (3.5 mm) TPLO.

Click to go to NGD website

Vetcision has worked with New Generation Devices (NGD) to help develop new TPLO implants. The inovate plate designs are of a high quality stainless steel metal manufactured using precise milling machines. A unique design feature of the NGD plates are the threaded screw holes that accept locking screw heads. This allows for a more ridged screw-plate-bone construct. This is especially important for patients with soft or brittle bone, or patients that may place excessive stress on the surgery site. This includes extremely active patients or very heavy patients.

3.5 mm NGD TPLO plate with locking screw in the #3 screw hole.