The rupture of the cranial cruciate ligament is one of the most common causes of lameness in the dog, and etiology of this disease is not yet clear. The diagnosis of the pathology is performed by clinical orthopedic tests, typically the drawer test and the tibial compression test. The development of different surgical techniques and treatments incorporate surgical osteotomies at the tibial tuberosity level, but the procedure may not be successful due to post-surgical bone ischemia. The descriptions of the vascular anatomy of this joint area are scarce and remain poorly represented in anatomical texts. The objective of this study was to describe the origin of the blood supply to the proximal epiphysis and diaphysis at its proximal third of the tibia in the dog. Contrast medium mixed with Indian ink was injected into two different arterial pathways, visualized with simple radiography prior to the injection and contrasted radiography post- injection. A total of 48 pelvic limbs of dogs were evaluated and organized in three groups based upon the arterial injection pathway. The group injected through the popliteal artery, as well as the group injected through the femoral artery, was observed to have staining in the tibial tuberosity.
KEY WORDS: Anatomy; Dog; Blood supply; Tibia.
