TPLO Complications
For both humans and animals alike, any surgical procedure carries a risk of complications. You dog should have a full evaluation done, complete with blood work and other baseline testing, prior to surgery to help minimize any risks; this pre-surgical testing can often diminish the risk of death from anesthesia. Overall, complications with cruciate surgery occur in approximately 5 to 10% of patients. Complications can range from mild and easily resolved, to more severe complications requiring additional surgery, expense and disability. While uncommon, complications do arise during and after tibial plateau leveling osteotomy procedures and you should speak with your veterinarian prior to the procedure and find out what procedures are in place to help minimize these risks, as well as what steps would be taken should a complication arise.
Possible complications associated with Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy (TPLO):
- Anesthetic death (very rare)
- Poor healing of the bone and/or breakage of plates and screws
- Straining of patellar ligament
- Fracture of tibial crest
- Blow-out fracture of the tibial plateau (requires re-operation)
- Loosening of screws and shifting of tibial slope
- Shifting of bones
- Arthritis
- Tearing of meniscus
- Allergic reaction to sutures
- Seroma formation
- Bleeding or bruising of the surgical site
- Implant failure
- Deep infections of the bone, joint or implant
- Angular/Torsional limb deformity
My shepherd had two TPLO surgeries. In his right leg, he developed infections from the plate and screws that would not heal, so he had to have the plate and screws surgically removed. However, the plate and screws were NOT removed from his left leg. He developed osteosarcoma, bone cancer, at the site of the plate. He had to have his rear left leg amputated to manage the pain. Sadly, the freaking cancer metastasized to the vertebrae in his spine. Nobody could help my precious boy at this point… I was forced to let him go to stop his pain. If you are considering the TPLO, insist that the surgeon informs you of this risk and possibly remove the foreign objects to prevent the metal plate from corroding into the bone.
What a sad an horrible story. I am so sorry to hear of the pain and hardship you went through! My poor dog had a TPLO that resulted in a nonunion. He’s had 2 surgeries already on the leg and they need to do another because it still hasn’t healed and he is very lame. I can tell he’s in pain. Apparently, when this procedure goes wrong, it can go very wrong. I hope others can ready your story and insist on finding a surgeon who is very very very very experienced, with many references and recommendations.
My dog had a TPLO done at the end of May. The surgeon was highly recommended, but I have to say I was wowwed by his assuredness and failed to ask the right questions. The vet told my husband and I that there was the old procedure (about $1,000) to fix the ACL and the new procedure (a Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy [TPLO] at about $3300)…and that he thought she would do best with the TPLO. What he DIDN’T tell me was what the TPLO entailed. Basically the vet goes in a surgically and removed the head of the tibia in order to re-engineer the physics of the leg. The requires plates and screws to be inserted into your dog’s leg. It also requires an incision that goes from the hip to below the knee…it’s a pretty serious surgery. Also, even the Board Certified surgeon’s can make mistake (as is what happened with my dog’s surgery). If you are thinking of doing this…ASK LOTS OF QUESTIONS. If your dog isn’t a national champion in agility or in some high level competative sport, you might be better off doing one of the older, more traditional ACL repair surgeries. My dog’s surgery ended up with too large of a gap in the cut that they made with the bone saw so she now has alot of rotation in the leg (in fact, when we took the bandage off on day three, her leg was pointing in…like it was pigeon-toed. This obviously was not correct so we took her back to the surgical vet. They chose not to go in and do a repair on it. At her six week check-up, she still wasn’t progressing so I contacted a canine rehab specialist to see if there was something else I could be doing (we already had initiated water therapy with my dog…which seemed to help). The canine PT said that in normal TPLO recoveries, they release the dog to normal activities at 8 weeks. My dog still couldn’t walk right due to the swivel in her leg. Based on the canine PT’s recommendations, I sought a second opinion and found out that my dog had a tibial crest fracture and that the cut made with the saw to restructure the physics was too wide…so another surgery would be needed to fix this. I am heartsick at the thought of putting my dog through another surgery and rehab, but leaving the leg as it is now will possibly impact the integrity of the “good” leg. So I’m basically praying for a miracle so we won’t have to do this second surgery. Please think twice about doing a TPLO…it’s a pretty serious surgery.
I need to make a decision between TPLO and the tightrope surgery. The more I read the more good and bad I find about TPLO and the tightrope failing. But I could not deal with the horrible stories and things these poor people and their beloved dogs had to go thru with the TPLO. I am driving myself crazy, what do I decide. Some people praise the TPLO but I guess those are the ones that all went well. It just seems like a big gamble with very bad consquences? Please help? Want to figure out and get my poor baby a surgery by the end of the week. Thanks
Our dog had a TPLO at Tufts Veterinary in Grafton, MA in December 2008. Our surgeon came highly recommended and essentially convinced us that the TPLO was the only “real” choice for our dog. Sadly, it has turned out to be a terrible choice. The procedure is brutal and two weeks post-surgery our poor boy spiked a high fever and lost complete use of the leg. He underwent an emergency surgery to clean out an infection that ran the entire length of the incision. He then remained on antibiotics until March and never regained full use of his leg. In April, he underwent a third surgery to remove the plate and screws because the infection would not go away. Now, almost a full year later, he is infection free but walks with a limp and is restricted to leash walking. Rainy and cold days cause pain. We are out over $10,000 in surgery, medication and rehabilitation costs. As a comparison, we did the traditional repair with our first dog and she had an uncomplicated surgery, regained full use of her leg and we paid a fraction of the cost. The financial cost was painful, but the most difficult part is watching our beautiful, kind and loving dog limp through life unable to play with other dogs. We feel guilty for choosing the TPLO and angry at our veterinary providers for convincing us that this procedure was “better” than the traditional repair. UPenn Veterinary School will not perform the TPLO. There is a reason. A very excellent reason. Avoid the TPLO, save yourself some money and prevent the heartache of complications.
Hi Julie: I took Sadie for TPLO on 11/4. I was too worried the tightrope would fail and thought the TPLO offered the best option. We are on day 12 post op and it has been good so far. It is a lot of work keeping an eye on her and her sister but that’s because I don’t crate Sadie. I iced the leg for 10 – 20 minutes using a bag of frozen peas and a towel for the first 72 hours; I think that made a big difference. Just remember that the recovery is up to you and is long one! As long as you are mentally prepared you should be fine! Good luck to you and your baby.
I have a dog who had the TightRope procedure done and she is doing incredibly well! I was also pushed by two vets to do the TPLO but after I researched TPLO I decided that is not something I ever want to have done. TPLO can work well but the complications can be horrible and yes, bone cancer at the site of the plate can and does happen. I now have a second dog with a torn ACL and we will have the new TightRope procedure done with the newer, stonger filaments.
Any owner faced with this decision needs to take the time to educate themselves on the procedures available. Unfortunately many, many vets are going straight to the TPLO and it’s not for EVERY dog, there ARE options.
I have a two year old black labrador, and found at 13 months old he seemed to develop a slight limp, which got progressively worse? The vet we usually see, checked the knee and confirmed he had a ligament problem (drawer effect)and advised us to rest him. we did this as best as we could as he was very active and was consistently jumping around as a pup. I did feel following this time (6-8 wks), we sholuld have gone to see a surgeon sooner, as i cant help thinking the longer we left it the worse it probably got? We went back to the vet who then recomended an orthopaedic surgeon to us. The surgeon seemed very good, and took him for x-rays, which when explained seemed to warrant the tplo surgery due to the incline and degree displayed on the x-ray. After a lot of thought we agreed to go ahead, also knowing his other leg was in the same state!….I cannot tell you how upsetting the whole 6 months was! Following the first operation, the first three days were un bearable for me, as Harvey seemed to struggle in pain, and i found it so upsetting to see. We were administering pain killers which did help, and after 3 days the pain subsided, and he seemed to be getting back to himself, weight bearing etc. We were then supposed to wait at least 8 wks before having the second leg done, however within 4-5 wks the other leg became lame, i guess from taking the weight and strain of the operated leg, and we had no choice but to go ahead on the second leg. I have got to say the whole experience was awful, but seem to be all worth it. Up un til this week…6 months on….Harvey has suddenly developed a clicking noise coming from the first operated leg when walking, and it appears a little lumpy around the knee? he dosnt seem to be in any pain, but the clicking noise is getting louder? i am just hoping to god that none of the screws have become loose or the plate has become dislodged, as this will require further surgery, and would try anything other than put him through any pain again? i am hoping this may be a tear to the meniscus again and maybe able to heal with rest naturally, but i am fearing the worst??…Can anybody please suggest anything, or give me some advice what this may be?
We have a 3 year old Rottie cross who has a torn ACL. We have been to our Vet and an orthopedic Surgeon/specialist. They both highly suggest the TPLO surgery stating the complications with the suture type surgery. The TPLO surgery will be around $3800.00 vs. $2200.00 for the suture/tightrope surgery. He is somewhat bowlegged and reading the above responses really has me in a quandry as to what to do. None of these problems were discussed by the surgeon with the exception that infection/rejection is always a factor in surgery regardless of type.
Concerned – Stand by for our decision.
My 3 year old German Shepherd had TPLO surgery on her left let 9/2/09. She is unfortunately still lame in the leg, however, I still stand by my decision to do this particular procedure. There is no doubt in my mind that this was the correct surgery for her. The big difference that you have to take into account in the choice of one type of repair over the other is the dog itself. The “tightrope” procedure is good for inactive and/or smaller breeds. Larger dogs and very active dogs are at a high risk for this type of repair to fail, however. For those who have had complications with the TPLO surgery, please remember that there is no guarantee that your dog would have healed any better from the other type of procedure. It is a serious procedure regardless of which repair you and your vet choose for your dog. There is a long recovery for both surgeries. BOTH procedures have benefits and deficits. I am on a long road to recovery with my girl, but I am confident that the ultimate result will be the best I can possibly provide for her. Please don’t be scared off by the failure stories that you hear. This site has a large collection of dogs that had complications, but does not give a true cross section of dogs that have had the surgery. There are no postings from anyone whose surgery has been successful and ALL surgery has risks. There is no “safe” choice for a cruciate ligament repair. You need to do research from trustworthy sites and work with your veterinarian to make sure that you feel you have sufficient knowledge to make an informed decision. Get a second opinion. Then get a third. However many it takes until you are sure about your decision. Remember, you can’t take it back.
My Lab/Pit Bull mix had a TPLO performed on his left leg last April. The only setbacks he experienced was from his own self-mutilation. He somehow figured out how to bend the E-Collar and chewed his sutures out twice. His incision became infected and the surgeon had him stay at the vet for 2 weeks on antibiotics, leaving the incision open to drain. Once this healed over, the recovery period went just as planned and he healed excellent and was back to rough-housing and playing and jumping and running like usual. I was very pleased. However, last week (almost a yr later), he became lame on his other leg, and the surgeon determined it was a tear in his right ACL. Keeping in mind that before his repair last yr, the surgeon informed us that it is a 50% chance that once a dog tears one ACL, it usually tears the other due to favoring the affected leg. He underwent surgery a couple days ago and so far things are going as expected. This time, we know he has to wear a bite-not collar (neck brace type collar) instead of an E-collar so he does not get to his sutures. Hopefully all will go just as well with this recovery as last years.
We have gone through several ACL repair surgeries for our dogs over the past 20 years, with mixed experiences and results. One important thing to note is that bad infections can occur with any surgery, no matter what procedure is used. One of our dogs had the tightrope procedure and ended up with a bad staph infection in the joint that nearly killed him. Fortunately, he was an amazingly tough old dog (her tore his ACL roughhousing with a much younger dog at the age of 14!) and pulled through, but the joint never recovered fully due to the amount of scar tissue and adhesions caused by the infection. We recently had a dog who underwent the TPLO procedure (because she is an agility dog) and have had no complications with it. It is good to be fully informed, but “You pays you money and you takes your chances” no matter what.
My 11 year old Australian Shepherd had TPLO surgery a little over four weeks ago. I carefully researched my options and sought a second opinion. I was not only concerned about what type of procedure was best to repair the torn ligament but also about the age of my dog. After gathering all my information and thinking long and hard about what would be best for my dear buddy, I finally decided that the risks of TPLO surgery were worth what the possible outcome could be, which was no longer be lame! It was terrible to see him struggle and be in so much pain to just get around the house. I felt he deserved the chance to walk again and enjoy life. We ran all the tests to make sure he was healthy enough for the surgery. I had the best and most experienced surgeon in the state do the surgery. My boy came home the second day after the surgery and he had a very rough night. It was very hard to see him in so upset and in pain and not be able to take it away. After that long and emotional night he has been very calm and content. I have kept him crated or on a short leash by my side. Progress is slow, but I am very pleased that he is now walking on a short leash, unassisted, and is off all medications. We do brief walks around the yard 3 to 4 times a day. It is great to see him walk again with no limp or visible pain! In fact, I just came back from the vet and the x-ray shows that the bone is already healing! I will continue to crate and have him on a short leash at all times and continue with no stairs. I want to make sure the bone completely heals with no complications. I know it is agonizing trying to decide what is best for your beloved dog when they have torn their ACL. There are always risks with surgery no matter what. I suggest that after all your research and information gathering do what feels right and if you have doubts about the type of procedure you are looking at doing to not go through with it. I had to have a peaceful feeling first before putting my best buddy through such an extensive surgery and know that no matter how it turned out that I would not regret it or look back. Beat of luck.