Abstract

Abstract
Background: Pantarsal arthrodesis is a salvage procedure performed for the treatment of tarsal joint disease, including severe osteoarthritis with intractable pain in the tarsocrural joint, tarsal fractures, shearing injuries, tarsocrural joint instability, and failure of the common calcanea tendon. Although medial plating is preferable, the high incidence of post-surgery complications is possible. Using thin, pre-contouring, or easy contouring locking plates might reduce the incidence of such complications. However, to date, there are no pre-contouring and dedicated locking plates for pantarsal arthrodesis with medial placement.

Case description: The case of an 18-month-old female stray European cat has been referred because of a severe tibio-tarsal injury improperly treated with an intramedullary pin. The patient was submitted for medial pantarsal arthrodesis, performed with the Compact UniLock 2.0™ locking plate systema (Stratec Medical, Oberdorf, Switzerland). The authors hypothesised that this particularly innovative osteosynthesis system could present advantages compared with the systems already in use for medial pantarsal arthrodesis and therefore reduce the risk of complications.
Conclusion: This innovative titanium locking system, because of its versatile contour function and thinness, allowed the good functional recovery of the limb and showed numerous advantages over traditional systems.

Key words: internal fixator; medial plate; pantarsal arthrodesis; tarsal injury; UniLock system;