Etiopathogenesis of canine cruciate ligament rupture: a scoping review

Spontaneous rupture of the cranial cruciate ligament in dogs remains a pathoetiologic puzzle. Despite much progress in research over the past years, the systemic and local mechanisms leading to ligament degeneration and structural failure, remain largely obscure. This scoping review focuses on pathogenesis and aims at summarizing and interpreting today’s knowledge on causes of canine cruciate ligament rupture; that is, on the multifactorial mechanisms leading to degenerative stifle joint disease with collagen matrix degeneration and structural failures. Thus, the initial view of traumatic ligament rupture, fostered by “wear and tear”, has clearly been replaced by a new concept of systemic processes linked to progressive degenerative joint disease and ligament failure; thus, the term “Cranial Cruciate Ligament Disease” has been coined and is generally accepted. Also, cruciate ligament rupture in people shares some similarities with the lesion in dogs; therefore, the review includes also comparative studies. The methods used were based on the PRISMA-ScR model (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews).