Tenorrhaphy and tendinous venous envelope (TVE). A morphofunctional study in 24 beagles dogs

A morphofunctional study was undertaken in 24 Beagle dogs subjected to a a tenorrhaphy, in order to evaluate the results obtained with 3 different surgical procedures (16 hands each)--"traditional" (TRAD); the "tendinous venous envelope" (TVE), and the "simulated procedure" (SHAM). The surgical tissue (n = 48) was the extensor digitorum communis muscle of the hand (forepaw) bilaterally. For TRAD procedure, the Bunnell suture technique was applied. For the TVE procedure, the tenorrhaphy site was wrapped in a segment of autologous femoral vein and for the SHAM procedure, the tendon was exposed over 3 cm without sectioning it and the wound was closed. In each case, the limb was immobilised for 21 days in a cast. Functional data (288 X-rays) was obtained on angle variations of the radio-carpal joint in 2 different positions--passive (physiological), and forced (with an additional weight of 150 g). For each position, the angle variation obtained for each one of the surgical procedures were compared at 3 different times: day zero (surgical intervention), day 21 (cast removal), and day 35 (surgical tissue removal). Morphological data (144 sections) was obtained by analyzing the surgical tissue (tendinous fibrosis; fusion of the tendon clusters with the epimysium and the neighboring tissues; synovitis and the virtual space between the tendon and the neosheath). Tests of variance analysis by posts (critical H = 5.99), showed that the TVE procedure produced better results as compared to TRAD (SHAM approximately equal to TVE > TRAD) on day 21 (H = 22.58) as well as on day 35 (H = 8.08).