Vets at the Veterinary Clinical Complex (VCC) of the Institute of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry (IVSAH) run under Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (SOA) here have successfully operated on the fractured right forelimb of a cow using bone screw method.

Orthopaedic surgical repair is generally uncommon in cattle while minimal invasive surgical procedure is rarely adopted in fracture cases.

The cow, which was brought to the VCC with its right forelimb fractured, was examined and it was found that the humerus had suffered a fracture about three months ago and had apparently healed. But the fragmented ulnar olcranon process had been displaced while the flexor group of muscles had contracted during auto healing, Dr. Ramesh Chandra Behera, faculty of surgery of IVSAH, said.

It was planned to fix the fragmented ulnar process and restore extention of the limb through selective tenotomy, he said.

Dr. Behera, assisted by Dr. Bikash Das and Dr. Analisha Deb Barman of the surgery department, fixed the fragment with bone screw under intravenous anesthesia which is the first of its kind in Odisha. Extension of the limb was restored which was kept under plaster cast. The process was coordinated by Prof. (Dr.) Srinibas Das.