This course is designed for the veterinarian who has an interest in orthopaedic surgery who is looking to start using locking plates for fracture fixation, or is looking to improve their orthopaedic skills to achieve better outcomes in fracture fixation. We will cover the principles of fracture repair and highlight the importance of decision making in fracture fixation. We shall discuss treatment of the most common long bone fractures in small animals and provide anatomical specimens to allow participants to master the surgical approaches to the long bones.
Learning objectives:
- To describe the different ways bones can heal following traumatic fractures
- To discuss the principles of locking plate fixation, including the advantages and disadvantages over traditional nonlocking plates
- To compare and contrast anatomical reconstruction and bridging fixation
- To describe and perform the common surgical approaches to long bones
- To apply a bone plate as a compression plate, neutralisation plate and bridging plate