Elbow Dysplasia Radiographs/Pictures - Page 1

I am wondering if anyone knows of a website to go to that actually shows a Normal elbow and compares it to what Dysplastic elbows look like. Didn't find it on OFA site. Thanks! Theresa

I would like to know myself. All of the elbow radiographs that I ever saw were either O.F.A. Normal or Level 1 dysplasie. I read hip x-rays quite well, but certainly can not determine anything about the elbow x-rays. Neither I nor the veterinarian could not see the difference. I know that Level 1 indicates the first stage of degenerative joint diesease (arthritis) and levels 2 and 3 are progressively worse. I do understand that the lighting level used for examination of the elbow radiographs is much more intense than that used for examination of hip radiographs, as the critical details are much smaller. I too wish that a site existed that showed both the example of a Normal elbow as well as the varying levels of dysplasie and how they were determined. Severe joint disease is easy for me to spot, but again I have never seen in a radiograph of an elbow. Bob-O

http://www.offa.org/elbowarticle.pdf

guess it would have helped if I had included the site with the normal elbow xrays http://www.bva.co.uk/public/chs/chs_elbow.pdf

DeesWolf, thank you very much, as I have not seen this file on the O.F.A. website. It may well be relatively recent, or I just never looked long enough. Still, after looking at the examples, I know that it will still be very difficult for me to determine elbow quality and must leave that to the experts. Now, I'll raise all of you one. We know the S.V. now requires that elbows be examined just as are hips. And I understand (I could easily be wrong here, but this is what I read) the elbows are graded in a manner similar to hips, so one has the "a"1, "a"2, and "a"3 ratings now for elbows. Unlike O.F.A., where an elbow is either correct (Normal) or dysplastic the S.V. applies a grade. To where does this lead? I'll stop at that! Bob-O

Thank you very much DeesWolf! Theresa

Bob-O, How interesting that you mention this. The rating of ED by OFA has always been of interest to me as I find their "rating" a bit lacking. When I was investigating ED I spent several days reviewing a LOT of online info, and speaking to many breeders. I recently came across this article and found it of great interest. I assume, you may as well. http://www.showdogsupersite.com/elbows.html

Yeah, hips are much easier to read for sure! Theresa

Hey Mr. Bob-O, I am pretty UNknowledgable about the elbows, and what I have read hasn't helped me that much to make an evaluation of the value of elbow xrays, though I intend to follow the crowd on it and get all of my young stock ED evaluated along with the hips. I have wondered how VALID the xraying of elbows is. I had a dog who got moose kicked. After I paid over $700 for xrays on hips and elbow-- because the dog was pretty sore and gimpy-- the vet made the remark "We made three sets of elbow xrays, and so they look pretty good. Hopefully, that is the case, since it's hard to tell with elbows." (The dog was fine...bruised up is all). Also, since the elbows are pretty complicated things, I would think that a dog could injure them easily in the course of work, even if they were ED-Normal. Such a dog might not pass an xray, but would they would be sound enough to work? (I myself could NOT pass an ED xray evaluation, but I can still work :-) And how about wear and tear with age? As a dog ages, often their hips are not the quality they were when they were younger, an excellent hip rating become a fair rating, etc, due to normal aging, wear and tear. At what age would normal elbows start to show wear and tear?

AKVeronica60, Wow! A ofa good dog at 2 years old ,can ofa fair at 4 years old? So that mean's if you xray an older dog you get less chance of a good x-ray??? wow. W