Radiography for hip dysplasia evaluation

Authors: Hunter AC
Publication: New Zealand Veterinary Journal, Volume 34, Issue 4, pp 43-45, Apr 1986
Publisher: Taylor and Francis

Animal type: Companion animal, Dog
Subject Terms: Skeletal/bone/cartilage, Congenital disease, Diagnostic procedures, Joint/arthrology, Limb - upper, Disease/defect, Limb - hind, Locomotor, Imaging, Surgery
Article class: General Article

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Abstract: INTRODUCTION: The New Zealand Veterinary Association has, after a thorough investigation, adopted the British Veterinary Association system of hip evaluation. The system has many advantages amongst which the facility to score and thereby quantify visual image variation is most important. Essentially any radiology is a subjective art in which the examiner defines his or her own opinions based upon visual experience. The British Veterinary Association system introduces a more objective assessment which, with a system of point scoring, allows panels of assessors to confidently report upon films with an accuracy hitherto unavailable. Further, the scores provide an invaluable databank for information on breed, sex and age, to mention a few. Nine essential features in each joint are sequentially examined and scored and a good quality` radiograph is obviously a prerequisite. If the system is to be useful, consistently high quality films will have to accompany each application and I would further suggest considering the moral and ethical issue wherein a client submitting an animal for radiography has every entitlement to assume and indeed expect a radiograph whose quality enables it to be fully interpreted. It is my personal view that one should not proffer radiography and radiology as a diagnostic aid if there are fundamental shortfalIs in technique and capacity to interpret films…

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