Duane A. Robinson

Objective: To describe the successful use of an autotransfusion technique utilizing 2 syringes in 4 dogs.Case Series Summary: All 4 dogs in this series had a hemoabdomen and subsequent hypovolemic shock. During surgery blood was collected from the abdominal cavity by the surgeon and passed to an assistant. The blood was then transferred to a second syringe for direct IV administration. The blood was passed through an inline blood filter prior to reaching the patient. Given the transfusion volume and administration time frame, 3 cases were classified as a massive transfusion. All 4 dogs survived the transfusion, were discharged within 3 days of surgery/transfusion and no complications were noted.New or Unique Information Provided: This case series describes a relatively simple method of performing an autotransfuion in patients with hemoabdomen and hypovolemic shock.

The objective was to compare plasma lidocaine concentrations when a commercially available 5% lidocaine patch was placed on intact skin vs. an incision. Our hypothesis was that greater absorption of lidocaine would occur from the incision site compared to intact skin. Ten dogs were used in a crossover design. A patch was placed over an incision, and then after a washout period, a patch was placed over intact skin. Plasma lidocaine concentrations were measured at patch placement; 20, 40 and 60 min; and 2, 4, 6, 12, 24, 36, 48, 72 and 96 h after patch placement. After patch removal, the skin was graded using a subjective skin reaction system. No dogs required rescue analgesia, and no toxicity or skin reaction was noted. Mean ± SD AUC and C_MAX were 3054.29 ± 1095.93 ng·h/mL and 54.1 ± 15.84 ng/mL in the Incision Group, and 2269.9 ± 1037.08 ng·h/mL and 44.5 ± 16.34 ng/mL in the No‐Incision Group, respectively. The AUC was significantly higher in the Incision Group. The results of the study demonstrate that the actual body exposure to lidocaine was significantly higher when an incision was present compared to intact skin. No adverse effects were observed from either treatment. Efficacy was not evaluated.

An 8-year-old spayed female domestic shorthair cat was presented with a 4- to 5-month history of a progressively growing mass above her anus and an inability to defecate for 3 to 4 wk. External perianal and internal regional masses were subsequently identified and diagnosed as tumors of neuroendocrine origin through surgical excision and histopathologic evaluation. The cat was treated with 2 courses of chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

Investigation of femoral head osteonecrosis would benefit from an animal model whose natural history includes progression to bony collapse of a segmental necrotic lesion. The bipedal emu holds attraction for systematic organ‐level study of collapse mechanopathology. One established method of experimentally inducing segmental lesions is liquid nitrogen cryoinsult. Four cryoinsult parameters—hold temperature, freeze duration, freeze/thaw repetition, and thaw duration—were investigated to determine their individual and combined effects on resulting necrotic lesion morphology. 3D distributions of histologically apparent osteocyte necrosis from 24 emus receiving varying cryoinsults were used to develop univariate and multivariate linear regression models relating resulting necrotic lesion morphology to particular cryoinsult input parameters. These models were then applied to predict lesion size in four additional emus receiving differing input cryoinsults. The best multivariate regression model predicted lesion volumes that were accurate to better than 8% of overall emu femoral head volume. The hold temperature during cryoinsult was by far the most influential cryoinsult input parameter. The utility of this information is to enhance the consistency and predictability of cryoinsult‐induced segmental lesion size for the purposes of systematic laboratory studies at the whole‐organ level. © 2011 Orthopaedic Research Society Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 29:931–937

Osteomyelitis contributes significantly to fracture morbidity. Our objective was to develop a model of induced implant‐associated osteomyelitis following fracture repair by modifying an existing rat femur fracture model. Thirty male Sprague–Dawley rats were divided into three groups (Control, Staphylococcus aureus, S. aureus + ceftriaxone). The closed femur fracture model (right femur), stabilized with an intramedullary pin, was combined with inoculation of 10⁴ colony‐forming units (CFU) of S. aureus. Radiographs were obtained immediately after surgery and at weeks 1, 2, and 3 and were evaluated by individuals blinded to treatment group. At necropsy the CFU of S. aureus per femur and pin were determined and synovial tissue and blood were cultured. The fractured femur from two rats in each group was evaluated histologically. A statistically significant difference in the CFU/femur and CFU/pin was found across treatment groups, with the highest CFU in the S. aureus group and the lowest in the Control group. Cultures of synovial tissue were positive in 11/19 of inoculated limbs. Osteomyelitis was present both radiographically and histopathologically in both S. aureus groups but not in the controls. No rats were systemically ill or had positive blood cultures at the study endpoint. This model will be useful for the evaluation of treatments or prophylactics designed for use in implant‐associated osteomyelitis. © 2010 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 29:131–137, 2011

Objective—To evaluate the relationship between previously used subjective and objective measures of limb function in normal dogs that had an induced lameness.Study Design—Prospective, blinded, and induced animal model trial.Animals—Normal, adult, and mixed‐breed dogs (n=24) weighing 25–35 kg.Methods—Force platform gait analysis was collected in all dogs before and after induction of lameness. All gait trials were videotaped; 60 video trials were evaluated by 3 surgeons with practice limited to small animal orthopedics and 3 first year veterinary students in an effort to establish the relationship between subjective and objective measures of lameness. Evaluators were unaware of the force platform data.Results—Concordance coefficients were low for all observers and were similar between students and surgeons. These values were further decreased when normal and non‐weight bearing trials were removed. Agreement with the force platform data was low even when observers only had to be within ±10% of the ground reaction forces. When repeat trials were evaluated surgeons had a much higher repeatability compared with students.Conclusions—Subjective evaluation of the lameness in this study varied greatly between observers and agreed poorly with objective measures of limb function.Clinical Relevance—Subjective evaluation of gait should be interpreted cautiously as an outcome measure whether performed from a single or from multiple observers.