Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Spinal cord compression on MRI linked to recovery in dogs with disc
By Penning, V et al.·Published in The Journal of small animal practice·2006·The Royal Veterinary College, United Kingdom·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Association of spinal cord compression seen on magnetic resonance imaging with clinical outcome in 67 dogs with thoracolumbar intervertebral disc extrusion.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of 67 dogs with back problems caused by intervertebral disc disease underwent surgery to relieve spinal cord compression. Most of these dogs were breeds prone to this condition, like Dachshunds. The study found that the amount of spinal cord compression seen on MRI did not predict how severe the dogs' symptoms were or how well they would recover after surgery. This means that even if a dog has significant compression, it doesn't necessarily indicate a worse outcome.
People also search for: dog back pain surgery · intervertebral disc disease in Dachshunds · dog spinal cord compression recovery
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To determine whether there is an association between the degree of transverse spinal cord compression detected by magnetic resonance imaging following thoracolumbar Hansen type 1 intervertebral disc disease in dogs and their presenting and postsurgical neurological status. METHODS: Medical records of 67 dogs with surgically confirmed Hansen type 1 intervertebral disc disease (2000 to 2004) were reviewed to obtain the rate of onset of disease, duration of clinical signs and presurgical and postsurgical neurological grade. Percentage of spinal cord compression was determined on transverse T2-weighted magnetic resonance images. Linear regression was used to examine the association between spinal cord compression and each of the above variables. Chi-squared tests were used to examine associations among postsurgical outcome and presurgical variables. RESULTS: Eighty-five per cent (57 of 67) of dogs were chondrodystrophoid. Mean spinal cord compression was 53 per cent (sd=219.7, range 14.3 to 84.9 per cent). There was no association between the degree of spinal cord compression and the neurological grade at presentation, rate of onset of disease, duration of clinical signs or postsurgical outcome, with no difference between chondrodystrophoid and non-chondrodystrophoid dogs. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The degree of spinal cord compression documented with magnetic resonance imaging in dogs with thoracolumbar Hansen type 1 intervertebral disc disease was not associated with the severity of neurological signs and was not a prognostic indicator in this study.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17076787/