Triple Pelvic Osteotomy

Triple Pelvic Osteotomy (also called Pelvic Osteotomy or abbreviated TPO) is one of the treatment options for hip dysplasia, a developmental disease of the hip joints most commonly seen in large and giant breed dogs.

The object of a TPO is to change the orientation of the shallow hip socket (acetabulum) to allow better coverage of the head of the femur. This increases the depth of the acetabulum causing it to “capture” the head of the femur and not allow it to slip out of the socket. Increasing the stability of the joint helps to minimize the development of degenerative joint disease (arthritis) as the dog gets older.

Indications

Triple Pelvic Osteotomy is a procedure that is generally done on young dogs that are showing pain in the hips, but have not yet developed significant radiographic changes in the joints. Unfortunately, the early changes of hip dysplasia are subtle and some dogs do not show signs indicating that they have the disease until after they have already developed changes in the joint that make performing a TPO inadvisable. For this reason, many veterinarians recommend doing routine palpation and X-ray screening of the hips in all large and giant breed dogs at about 6 months of age.

Any young large or giant breed dog that demonstrates lameness in one or both rear legs, reluctance to run and play, tires easily, shifts the weight to the forelimbs, shows loss of muscle mass in the rear limbs, shows pain when the hips are manipulated, or has a “popping” sensation felt over the hip joints, should be evaluated by your veterinarian.

If caught at the early stages, TPO is a very successful procedure with few complications.

Figure 2. A pelvis from a dog, showing the three areas where the bone must be cut in order to rotate the hip joint (acetabulum)

Figure 3. A special plate is used to hold the rotated acetabular segment in the desired degree of rotation until the ilium has healed back together.

Figure 4. X-rays taken of the pelvis immediately after surgery show the rotation of the acetabulum on each side and the plate and screws holding the acetabulum in the desired degree of rotation.

Figure 5. An X-ray taken of the pelvis at 8 weeks after surgery shows that the ilial osteotomy is now healed.

A special thank you to ACVS for providing this information for dog owners. For more information on potential complications from TPO and aftercare, please refer to their website by clicking here.