Knick-Knack, Paddy-Whack, Save a Dog a Bone…

And we’re not talking soup bones. Osteosarcoma is the most common canine bone cancer, with tumors generally appearing on the dog’s front limbs, above the wrist joint.  Veterinarians can treat osteosarcoma, but in many cases the treatment involves amputation, a particular challenge for dogs with additional health problems that may affect their balance or mobility, such as advanced neurologic or orthopedic disease. Occasionally, giant breeds may have increased difficulty adapting to life on three legs.

Veterinarians have attempted to find a solution that both removes the cancer and spares the dog’s limb.  The current limb-sparing surgical method involves replacing the affected bone with donor bone or a metal implant. Unfortunately, both treatments can have complications, including infection, implant failure, fractures, bone resorption (where the donor bone just disappears, absorbed by the dog’s body) or tumor recurrence.

Veterinarian Dr. Denis Marcellin-Little, professor of orthopedic surgery at NC State,  is trying to improve current limb-sparing techniques by creating a new type of metal implant that can be used in these surgeries.

The problem with metal implants is that they don’t have the same kind of flexibility as bone.  So when an active animal begins to put stresses on the limb with the implant, the bone gives, but the metal doesn’t, leading to fractures and breaks where the bone and implant interact.

Marcellin-Little and colleagues in the Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering have created three designs of a new limb-sparing implant that they hope will better represent the properties of natural bone, and which will be  customizable to each individual patient’s needs. They will first test these implants against each other as well as against the designs currently in use, to determine which design is most efficient and effective.

If all goes well, Marcellin-Little could move on to a clinical trial phase for canine patients by next spring.

And don’t  think that this research will only benefit our four-legged friends:  osteosarcoma occurs in people primarily as a childhood cancer, and Marcellin-Little’s implant design may end up helping not just dogs, but their young owners as well.

Marcellin-Little’s research is partially sponsored by Bone Cancer Dogs, Inc.