Cancellous bone grafting at plate removal to counteract stress protection.

Fractures of the radius and ulna in dogs of miniature breeds can be clinically troublesome because of bone resorption during healing, causing increased possibility of refracture. Bone plates allow early weight-bearing, but substitute the problem of stress protection for disuse atrophy. To overcome the disuse atrophy, early plate removal plus cancellous bone grafting was used in 4 limbs of dogs. Visible thickening or increased bone density of the fracture site was observed 3 weeks after the procedure.