Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Aggressive drug and surgery treatment helps dogs and cats with spinal
By Mendenhall, H V et al.·Published in Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association·1976·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Aggressive pharmacologic and surgical treatment of spinal cord injuries in dogs and cats.
Plain-English summary
A group of 22 dogs and 3 cats with spinal cord injuries received aggressive treatment, including surgery and medication, and 44% of them showed recovery. When excluding those that were euthanized or died during surgery, the recovery rate improved to 73%. Notably, all animals that did not have a complete spinal cord transection and were treated within 4 hours of their injury fully recovered, highlighting the importance of prompt surgical intervention. This suggests that acting quickly can significantly improve outcomes for pets with serious spinal injuries.
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Abstract
Aggressive pharmacologic and surgical treatment of spinal cord injuries in 22 dogs and 3 cats resulted in a recovery rate of 44% of all 25 animals. Excluding 5 animals that were euthanatized at surgery because of visualized cord transection and 5 that died during surgery because of secondary lesions, the recovery rate was 73%. This is compared with a recovery rate of 39% (7/18) for animals treated with more conservative methods at the same institution during an earlier period. Of the 7 animals without spinal cord transection and treated within 4 hours of injury, all recovered, pointing to the merits of early surgical intervention.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/931770/