Internal Fixation Under Arthroscopic Guidance

The majority of equine fractures are articular and prognosis usually is determined by the severity of articular insult and of the deficit that remains. In general, reconstruction without incongruity of the articular surface is critical to resumption of an athletic career.

The advent of internal fixation under arthroscopic control or guidance occurred in 1986 when Richardson described a technique for repair of slab fractures of the third carpal bone. The minimally invasive technique and accurate anatomical reduction dovetailed perfectly with the goals of AO/ASIF and led to rapid universal adoption. The principle of using arthroscopically determined percutaneous markers for delineation of fracture margins and implant trajectory allowed adaptation to repair of other and more complex slab fractures (McIlwraith et al. 2005) and of carpal chip fractures (Wright and Smith 2011). [...]