218 VETERINARY SURGICAL OPERATIONS 



Adams claims that one of the benefits derived from 

 cunean tenotomy is the detachment of the tendon from 

 the cuneiform parvum. The claim is based on the logical 

 reasoning that the tendon, as the hock flexes, pulls against 

 the diseased parvum and thus causes at least a part of the 

 'ameness. Severed, this much of the lameness is dispatched. 

 If this reasoning is correct, a backward extension of the 

 exostosis, a common occurrence, should be a favorable rather 

 than an unfavorable condition for the operation. Cunean 

 tenotomy is also defended on the grounds that it provokes 

 a deep seated inflammation, deeper than puncture firing, and 

 thus hastens resolution of the osteitis. One of the first 

 contentions held, was that tension against the tendon caused 

 lameness, and that its division by removing the tension 

 palliated the limp. This theory is probably ill-founded, as 

 the tendon is never found in a state of tension. On the 

 contrary, it is always imbedded in a deep, well carpeted 

 groove. The exostosis builds up around the tendon but 

 never presses it into a state of tension. 



Cunean tenotomy performed at the very beginning of 

 spavin lameness seldom ever affords the desired relief. It 

 is probably as effectual as any of the other treatments, but 

 as some time must always elapse between the beginning 

 and the termination of every real spavin lameness, the opera- 

 tion, like all other treatments, is generally found to have 

 given little or no benefit after the usual period of post- 

 operative convalescence is over. Firing and blistering might 

 then be recommended as a second resort, but the tenotomy 

 being regarded as the radical treatment it is preferable that 

 the former precede it. 



Besides those serious, diffused, incurable spavins which 

 encroach farther and farther over the articulation until the 

 entire tarsus is implicated, almost all spavins will eventually 

 recover in from three to six months of treatment. Treat- 

 ment tending to hasten this cure must consist of keeping 

 the seat of disease in a constant state of irritation. Cunean 

 tenotomy maintains such a state for some weeks, and is 

 therefore a defensible procedure. 



EQUIPMENT. — No special equipment is required to 

 perform the operation. The usual operating outfit containing 

 the essential instruments, — scalpel, curved, probe-pointed 

 bistoury, small curved scissors, dissecting forcep, razor, 

 clipper, hypodermic syringe, 5% solution of cocaine, anti- 

 septics, needles and thread, constitutes the necessary instru- 

 ments. 



