Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Dog with neck disc extrusion and worsening spinal cord damage
By Lin, Annie et al.·Published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science·2023·View original on Crossref →
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Original publication title: Case report: Clinical and pathological findings in a canine patient with intervertebral disk extrusion resembling progressive myelomalacia
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A 4-year-old female spayed dog was brought to the emergency room because she couldn't move her legs and was very weak. A CT scan showed that a disk in her neck had slipped out of place, which was pressing on her spinal cord. The dog underwent emergency surgery to relieve the pressure, but afterward, she had trouble breathing and needed a ventilator. Unfortunately, her condition worsened, and further tests suggested she had a serious spinal cord issue called progressive myelomalacia. Sadly, she was euthanized, and tests confirmed the diagnosis.
People also search for: dog can't move legs · cervical disk extrusion treatment · progressive myelomalacia in dogs
Abstract
A 4-year-old female spayed dog presented to the emergency department for non-ambulatory tetraparesis, which progressed to tetraplegia. Computed tomography (CT) confirmed cervical intervertebral disk extrusion at C5-6 extending to C6-7, and an emergency ventral slot was performed. After the procedure, the patient was placed on mechanical ventilation due to respiratory failure. Repeat assessment upon weaning her ventilatory support suggested the patient's neurological status had declined. Based on her deterioration and suspicion of progressive myelomalacia on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), she was euthanized. Post-mortem histopathology of the spinal cord supported the presence of progressive myelomalacia. To the author's knowledge, this is the first case report describing a progressive myelomalacia in a canine patient with cervical intervertebral disk extrusion.
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Search related cases →Original publication on Crossref: https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2023.1122566