COMPARISON OF RADIOLOGIC IMAGING TECHNIQUES FOR DIAGNOSIS OF FRAGMENTED MEDIAL CORONOID PROCESS OF THE CUBITAL JOINT IN DOGS

Thirty cubital joints from 16 dogs suspected of having a fragmented me dial coronoid process were examined. Four breeds accounted for 87.5% o f the cases: German Shepherd Dog (25%), Labrador Retriever (25%), Rott weiler (18.75%), and Golden Retriever (18.75%). Seventy-five percent o f the dogs were male. Mean age of affected dogs was 13.6 months. Plain -film radiography, xeroradiography, linear tomography, arthrography, a nd computed tomography were performed on each cubital joint prior to s urgical exploration of the joint. Three reviewers evaluated each diagn ostic study and independently determined whether a fragment from the m edial coronoid process could be seen. The consensus opinion was compar ed with the finding at surgery. Abnormalities of the medial coronoid p rocess were detected in 25 of 30 joints at surgery. Fragmented coronoi d process was found in 17 of 30 joints, and wear lesions were observed in 8 of 30 joints. Computed tomography had the highest accuracy (86.7 %), sensitivity (88.2%), and negative-predictive value (84.6%) of the 5 imaging modalities evaluated (P < 0.05). Specificity and positive-pr edictive value of all imaging techniques were high. There was no signi ficant difference between the diagnostic ability of plain-film radiogr aphy, xeroradiography, or linear tomography of the cubital joint. The combination of plain-film radiography and linear tomography provided a n improvement in accuracy, approaching that of computed tomography.