A 96 day old male Labrador Retriever puppy presented with swollen limbs with the swelling centered at the ends of the bones or possible in the joints Multiple radiographic studies were made. The pain did not seem to be from the joint. Radiographs were made of the affected limb. Study day 1 Study day 40Comparison studies day 1 and day 40Diagnosis
- The clinical history, the age of the patient, the polyostotic nature of the destructive lesions, their location within the metaphyses of long bones all provide for a definitive diagnosis of hypertrophic osteodystrophy (HOD)
- This inflammatory disease causes characteristic lucent zones within the metaphyses parallel to the physeal plates
- A zone of soft tissue mineralization forms a radiopaque cuff around the metaphyses
Differential diagnosis
- The clinical presentation makes a differential diagnosis difficult to consider – the destructive nature of the lesions could suggest a polyostotic bone infections, perhaps bacterial but the perfect symmetry of the lesions forces the diagnosis of HOD
- The possibility of a nutritional imbalance suggested a diagnosis of hypovitaminosis C, scurvy, at the time the disease was first described
Clinical history
- This patient is somewhat unique clinically in that fever and pain were not controlled and thus the dog was euthanatized
- The degree of generalized osteopenia characterized by thin cortices is more severe than usual in this patient and may indicate additional features in the disease
