Comparison of the mid-shaft bone geometry between fractured and non-fractured femora in newborn calves

Akin, Ibrahim

Background: Femoral fractures are one of the most common fractures in newborn calves. Other than trauma, some factorsmay play a role in femoral fractures in newborn calves. The evaluation of the mid-femoral bone geometry in calves mayprovide valuable information to the veterinary orthopaedists due to the relationship between the success of the orthopaedicsurgery. The purpose of the study was to determine the mid-femoral bone geometry in newborn calves, even if there wasdifference between fractured and non-fractured femur radiographs.Materials, Methods & Results: Fractured femora in 20 newborn calves were enrolled to study, and 40 femora from 20age and sex-matched calves without any obvious orthopedic diseases were included. All calves (n: 40) were Holstein, atthe age of 1-10 days, weighing 20-45 kg. Mediolateral femur radiographs were taken and measurements of the periosteal(Wp) and endosteal widths (We), as well as cranial (Tcr) and caudal (Tca) cortical thicknesses were performed directlywith digital caliper from the mid-shaft of the femora, where the minimum outside diameter and thickest cortex were present. Craniocaudal radiographs were not evaluated due to the abnormal projections. Three consecutive measurements wereobtained at once a week interval. A paired t-test and Wilcoxon test was used to determine the differences between thesame measurements of the right and left sides of non-fractured femora in normally and not normally distributed variables,respectively. The repeated-ANOVA was used to compare to the three consecutive measurements. The femoral corticalindex (FCI) was calculated, using the formula: (periosteal width - endosteal width) / periosteal width. Additionally, thevolume per area (VPA) was calculated, assuming the cylindrical shape of the femoral mid-shaft, by formula: [*(periostealwidth–endosteal width)*(1-femoral cortical index)]. Two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to...(AU)

1. calf
2. femur
3. bone geometry