In responding to questions about types of surgeries to repair torn cranial cruciate ligaments in canines, I’ve come across 3 main types which have been previously discussed on other posts. I just heard from someone who had been looking for information on External Capsular Fixation but was unable to come up with any results, so I thought I’d try to offer a little bit of help.
My first thought was that there was simply a misunderstanding between the patient and the veterinarian. External would imply that there wouldn’t be need for …

The Lateral Fabellar Technique, or Extracapsular Technique, is a common surgery performed on dogs to stabilize the stifle (knee) joint after a tear or rupture in the cranial cruciate ligament (CCL; misspelling cranial crucial ligament). Normally, the cranial cruciate ligament (CCL) prevents backward-forward movement (drawer movement) of the stifle joint. Untreated instability in the knee/stifle joint due to a turn/ruptured CCL can result in a tearing of the meniscus as well. When it tears/ruptures, the stifle joint becomes unstable and the dog suffers lack of mobility, lameness or loss of …