Cranial cruciate ligament (CrCL) rupture is the most common cause of hind limb lameness in dogs. Medial meniscal tears occur in up to 77% of patients suffering CrCL rupture with vertical longitudinal tears making up nearly 60% of medial meniscal tears. Meniscal tears are associated with an increase in lameness relative to CrCL rupture alone. Latent tears represent a significant and potentially avoidable cause of postoperative lameness affecting between 6-17% of patients following CrCL treatment. Arthroscopy has been demonstrated to be superior to arthrotomy in assessment of meniscal pathology with the advantage being attributed to improved magnification and illumination. Regardless of technique used probing for meniscal pathology has been demonstrated to increase diagnostic accuracy by up to 9 times over observation alone.
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