Zoey's Story: The Plate That Did It Twice
After five years, what defines a strong portfolio isn't how many products it has. It's how far one well-designed system can go, across patients, procedures, and even the same patient twice.
Sometimes that means one solution, used twice, in the same patient. To mark Movora's fifth anniversary, we're sharing five stories, including Zoey's, a 4-pound Maltipoo who put the same plate to work twice.
Zoey broke her leg twice, and the same plate fixed it.
The 4-pound Maltipoo's active and playful lifestyle gets her into a lot of trouble. After a fall down the stairs, x-rays at TruVet Specialty and Emergency Hospital revealed a traumatic left olecranon fracture. Given Zoey's petite stature and the size of the fracture, fixation failure would have been catastrophic if the implants pulled out or failed under mechanical stress.
Dr. Kim Tong exposed the fracture site via a caudolateral approach to the olecranon. He manually reduced the fracture and placed a 1.5mm Condylar T-Plate laterally, with an additional 1.5mm 5-hole Locking Compression Plate placed caudally.
A bandage complication later left the caudal plate exposed, and the skin wouldn't heal despite multiple attempts to repair the surgical site. However, Zoey's fracture was healing well, so the plate was removed, and Zoey went on to make a full recovery.
Less than a year later, while playing with the family's new puppy, Zoey was knocked over and snapped her left distal radius and ulna. Dr. Tong used the 1.5mm Condylar T-Plate again. It fit perfectly at the distal radial fracture, and the repair was successful.
Two breaks, one plate, and a full recovery: a true story illustrating the versatility of the implant and the skill of the surgeon.
"I chose this plate honestly was because it fit the best. It just made the most sense given the boney real estate that I had since both end pieces of the fracture were very tiny." — Dr. Kim Tong
How can one plate design address two different fracture sites?
The 1.5mm Condylar T-Plate and 1.5mm Compression Plate used in Zoey's first surgery, an olecranon fracture repair, wasn't originally selected with a second injury in mind. But when Zoey later fractured her distal radius and ulna, Dr. Tong reached for the same 1.5mm Condylar T-Plate, and it fit the new fracture site precisely. That flexibility comes down to the plate's geometry: a well-designed small-fragment system can adapt across multiple anatomical sites, rather than requiring a completely different implant for every fracture pattern.
Meet the Surgeon
Dr. Kim Tong
DVM, DACVS-SA
Golden Gate Mobile Surgery
California, United States
The surgeon who performed both of Zoey's fracture repairs.
Stories like Zoey's are exactly why this anniversary is about more than five years of Movora, it's five years of building implants surgeons can trust to work, not just once, but every time they're needed. Our thanks go to Dr. Tong for the skill it took to make both repairs a success.
This story is part of our 5 Years, 5 Stories series, celebrating five years of Movora and the surgeons, pet parents, and patients who make our work matter.
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