Remote active surveillance following tibial plateau leveling osteotomy: a preliminary study of patellar tendinitis in dogs.

INTRODUCTION: Traditional follow-up methods in small animal orthopedic surgery are primarily passive. These methods have been shown to result in only moderate owner adherence, and their value has been questioned in recent years. In human medicine, active surveillance has been demonstrated to consistently outperform passive methods in detecting adverse events. Our goal was to obtain preliminary data on the utility of active surveillance after tibial plateau leveling osteotomy (TPLO) for detecting patellar tendinitis (PT) associated with lameness and/or pain in dogs. METHODS: Two groups of dogs were retrospectively evaluated for the occurrence of PT. Group 1 (N = 910) consisted of a review of data from dogs that underwent routine TPLO follow-up visits, which included history taking, examination, and radiographic assessment. Follow-up for dogs in Group 2 (N = 195) was initially performed remotely through active surveillance. Dogs with lameness and/or owner-reported problems were invited for a physical evaluation, which was conducted using the same protocol as in Group 1. RESULTS: The incidence of PT was 2% (18/910) in Group 1 and 6% (12/195) in Group 2. Owner adherence to follow-up with active surveillance was 85%. DISCUSSION: Preliminary evidence suggests that remote active surveillance after TPLO may enable reliable detection of clinically relevant PT in dogs. Incorporating structured remote follow-up could improve postoperative monitoring while maintaining diagnostic sensitivity. The limitations of this study include the potential incomplete capture of PT cases in Group 1, the absence of data on activity restriction compliance, and the lack of a demographic comparison between the groups. Further prospective studies are needed to validate this novel approach.