Fracture repair in birds: A clinical study

The present study was conducted on 25 birds subjected to fracture repair using external tie-in fixators and other appropriate methods. All the birds were first subjected to preoperative stabilization for 1–2 days followed by clinical examination, surgical repair and postoperative care. In all cases butorphanol was administered @ 0.1 mg/kg IO, i.m. to provide perioperative analgesia. Surgeries were performed under general anesthesia using ketamine (5 mg/kg) - diazepam (0.5 mg/kg) combination (n=16) or isoflurane anaesthesia (n=2). The incidence of wing fractures (n=15) was more as compared to limb fractures (n=10). Among the wing fractures, the incidence of radius-ulna fracture (n=8) was higher; whereas in case of limb fractures, tibiotarsus fractures (n=5) were more. Fracture repair was done by bandaging, intramedullary pinning or application of tie-in fixator. All the birds were kept indoor till the complete recovery. During the study, the survival rate of the birds was 80% (n=20) and the success rate was 32% (n=8).