Partial parasagittal patellectomy: a novel method for augmenting surgical correction of patellar luxation in four cats

Abstract

We describe a novel surgical technique used to correct feline patellar luxation (PL) where abnormal patellar tracking persists despite conventional corrective surgery. An anatomical difference between feline and canine stifles is that the feline patella is wider relative to the trochlear sulcus. This results in less constrained patellar tracking. Therefore, patellar subluxation is common in normal cats. It was noticed that in some feline cases with clinically significant PL, PL persisted intraoperatively despite performing the standard corrective procedures. We report a novel surgical technique – partial parasagittal patellectomy – to address the wide shape of the feline patella relative to the sulcus. This technique has been successfully performed in four cats with good outcomes. However, the immediate risks and long-term effects of partial parasaggital patellectomy are not known. We reserve this technique for surgical cases where PL cannot be controlled by conventional means.