ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Veterinary Imaging
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1626472
Diagnostic Value of Contrast-Enhanced CT for Elbow Joint Disorders in Dogs
Provisionally accepted
- 1Clinic for Small Animal Surgery and Reproduction, Centre for Clinical Veterinary Medicine, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
- 2Institute of Veterinary Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Objective: Computed tomography (CT) with intravenous contrast agents can provide additional diagnostic information. To our knowledge, no previous study has evaluated the role of contrast agents in CT imaging of the canine elbow joint. This study aimed to determine the diagnostic value of post-contrast imaging. Methods: A total of 326 elbow joints from 163 dogs with unilateral or bilateral lameness caused by elbow joint pathology were examined using radiography and CT, both with and without contrast agents. Diagnoses assessed from radiographs and CT scans in the bone window included primary diseases and periarticular osteophytes. Possible primary diseases included medial coronoid process disease (MCPD), ununited anconeal process (UAP), osteochondrosis dissecans (OCD), humeral intracondylar fissure/incomplete ossification of the humeral condyle (HIF/IOHC), epicondylar spur, caudal or medial calcified bodies. Contrast enhancement of the joint capsule and flexor muscles was evaluated in the soft tissue window. Elbow joints without pathological findings, lameness, or contrast enhancement served as controls (n = 21). Results: Among the 137 elbow joints showing contrast enhancement, 94 demonstrated enhancement limited to the joint capsule, 16 to the flexor muscles, and 27 to both joint structures. Epicondylar spurs were most strongly associated with flexor muscle enhancement, whereas medially located calcified bodies were not. Joint capsule enhancement was most frequently associated with periarticular osteophytes. Notably, elbows with flexor muscle involvement but no epicondylar spur or calcified bodies (n = 14) could only be detected through contrast-enhanced imaging. Conclusion: A contrast agent could be administered during most CT scans of the elbow joint to ensure that no pathological changes are overlooked. Nevertheless, it is important to weigh the benefits for treatment and prognosis against the risks of administering a contrast agent to the patient.
Keywords: Contrast-enhanced CT, elbow disorders, dog, Elbow dysplasia, flexorenthesopathy
Received: 10 May 2025; Accepted: 06 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Rohr, Reese, Zöllner and Meyer-Lindenberg. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Bettina Rohr, bettina.rohr@chir.vetmed.uni-muenchen.de
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.