Small Animal Surgery

Welcome to the Small Animal Surgery Studies Page!

If you would like more information about a study, or think you would like to enroll your pet, contact the person listed under the study. You may also Contact Us at the CIC.

Does Intra-articular botulinum toxin (Botox) relieve joint pain in dogs with elbow arthritis? 

Current Status:  Active and enrolling
Principal Investigators:
Liz Pluhar, DVM, MS, PhD, DACVS
Erin Corbin, DVM
Contact:
Dr. Corbin at 612-626-8387, eecorbin@umn.edu
Sara Pracht, study technician, at 612-626-3574, prach011@umn.edu

We are looking for healthy dogs diagnosed with chronic elbow osteoarthritis to study the the use of Botox in pain relief compared to placebo.

Study requirements:

• Dogs > 20 kg with an obvious gait abnormality (one forelimb clinically worse than the other)
• Previous complete orthopedic and neurological examination with radiographs to confirm the diagnosis

Description of study:

• Two randomly assigned groups: Botox vs. placebo (saline) injections
• Pain relief is monitored via client questionnaires, lameness examinations, elbow measurements, and force platform gait analysis.  Recheck examinations are at 1, 3, and 6 months.
• Once enrolled, the study covers the cost of injection, and all recheck examinations.

To see if a dog qualifies, please contact Dr. Corbin or Sara Pracht (see above).

For more information about the Surgical Research Laboratory, please see our website:  http://www.cvm.umn.edu/vcs/surgery/srl/home.html