Med. Weter. 82 (02), 93-97, 2026
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| KRZYSZTOF HERMAN, BEATA DEGÓRSKA |
| Learning curve of osteotomy accuracy based on Tibial Plateau Levelling Osteotomy |
| The objective of the study was to assess the learning curve of osteotomy accuracy for a single surgeon based on tibial plateau levelling osteotomy (TPLO). The criterion was the accuracy of achieving a planned osteotomy immediately after surgery compared with that of two experienced surgeons. A literature review was performed, including textbooks, Fossum and Tobias, and journal searches on Google Scholar, ScienceDirect and Pubmed, using the keywords “TPLO”, “learning curve”, and “training”. As of April 2025, it was found that there were no similar studies on the learning curve of osteotomy accuracy. Two studies describe aspects of the TPLO learning curve: one concerns the effect of training on the duration of TPLO, and the other, written by the present author, investigates the learning curve on the basis of TPA. The present study was designed as a retrospective blinded case series with two case controls based on dogs with cranial cruciate ligament disease that had undergone TPLO surgeries (n = 140). Medical records and radiographs for the first 100 TPLO surgeries performed by surgeon A (author) without direct supervision were reviewed, and consecutive numbers from 1-100 were allocated (November 2017-July 2020). Records and radiographs for the last 20 cases of two experienced surgeons B (RCVS Diplomate) (March 2019-June 2020) and C (ECVS Diplomate) (October 2019-June 2020) were used as two comparison groups (further numbers were allocated). Statistics were calculated, and a graph to show the learning curve was created. Improvement in the accuracy of achieving the desired osteotomy position was seen after the first 60 cases. The conclusion and clinical relevance of this study is that to achieve a repeatable outcome in performing osteotomy, a trainee surgeon needs to perform around 60 surgeries |
| Key words: experience, learning curve, surgery, osteotomy, Tibial plateau angle, Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy |