Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
How vets score walking recovery after dog spinal cord injury
By Song, Rachel B et al.·Published in Journal of neuroscience methods·2016·Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Adaptation of the Basso-Beattie-Bresnahan locomotor rating scale for use in a clinical model of spinal cord injury in dogs.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A dog with a spinal cord injury was evaluated using a new scoring system designed to measure recovery in dogs after surgery. This system, called the canine BBB scale (cBBB), showed that the dog's ability to move improved significantly over 30 days following treatment. The cBBB effectively tracked changes in the dog's movement and was found to be reliable when compared to other existing methods. This means that veterinarians can use this scale to better assess how well dogs are recovering from spinal injuries and adjust treatments accordingly.
People also search for: dog spinal cord injury recovery · canine BBB scale · dog surgery movement improvement · dog laminectomy recovery time
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Naturally occurring acute spinal cord injury (SCI) in pet dogs provides an important clinical animal model through which to confirm and extend findings from rodent studies; however, validated quantitative outcome measures for dogs are limited. NEW METHOD: We adapted the Basso Beattie Bresnahan (BBB) scale for use in a clinical dog model of acute thoracolumbar SCI. Based on observation of normal dogs, modifications were made to account for species differences in locomotion. Assessments of paw and tail position, and trunk stability were modified to produce a 19 point scale suitable for use in dogs, termed the canine BBB scale (cBBB). Pet dogs with naturally occurring acute SCI were assigned cBBB scores at 3, 10 and 30days after laminectomy. RESULTS: Scores assigned via the cBBB were stable across testing sessions in normal dogs but increased significantly between days 3 and 30 in SCI-affected dogs (p=0.0003). The scale was highly responsive to changes in locomotor recovery over a 30day period, with a standardized response mean of 1.34. COMPARISON WITH EXISTING METHODS: Concurrent validity was good, with strong correlations observed between the cBBB and two other locomotor scales, the OSCIS (r=0.94; p<0.001) and the MFS (r=0.85; p<0.0001). cBBB scores inversely correlated with other assessments of recovery including mechanical sensory threshold (r=-0.68; p<0.0001) and coefficient of variation of stride length (r=-0.49; p<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: These results support the use of the cBBB to assess locomotor recovery in canine clinical translational models of SCI.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27155106/