Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
MRI shows spinal fluid pulsation in dogs with spinal arachnoid
By Shivapour, S K et al.·Published in Veterinary journal (London, England : 1997)·2019·Department of Veterinary Clinical Science and Services, United Kingdom·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Cine balanced fast field echo magnetic resonance imaging of canine spinal arachnoid diverticulae pulsation.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of 12 dogs with spinal arachnoid diverticulae (SAD), which can cause weakness and coordination problems, underwent a special type of MRI called cine balanced fast field echo (cine bFFE) to measure the flow of cerebrospinal fluid. The imaging showed that the diverticulae pulsated with each heartbeat, and half of the dogs also had syringomyelia, a condition where fluid-filled cavities form in the spinal cord. While this MRI technique effectively identified the pulsation, it had some limitations, such as artifacts that affected the images. Overall, the findings suggest that cine bFFE MRI can be useful for diagnosing and understanding SAD in dogs.
People also search for: dog spinal problems · canine arachnoid diverticulae treatment · dog MRI for spinal issues
Abstract
Canine spinal arachnoid diverticulae (SAD) are characterised by focal cerebrospinal fluid dilatations within the subarachnoid space, most commonly associated with nonpainful paresis and ataxia secondary to chronic compressive myelopathy. Numerous imaging techniques have been described for diagnosis of this condition, including myelography, computed tomography myelography, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The present retrospective study investigated the utility of cine balanced fast field echo (cine bFFE) MRI sequences in measuring pulsatile flow in 12 dogs with SAD. The secondary aim was to determine the prevalence and location of syringes in relation to SAD, as the co-occurrence of these conditions has not been previously reported. The degree of SAD pulsation was calculated as the change in area per cardiac cycle on sagittal (n = 12/12) and transverse (n = 7/12) cardiac-gated cine bFFE MRI sequences. Pulsation was identified on all sequences, with a median ratio of change in SAD area of 0.14 (range, 0.10-0.27; n = 12) on sagittal cine bFFE and 0.23 (range, 0.05-0.53; n = 7) on transverse cine bFFE sequences. Significant differences between minimum and maximum SAD dimensions were identified on sagittal (P = 0.002) and transverse measurements (P = 0.018). A moderate prevalence of syringomyelia was identified (n = 6/12; 50%) on T2W sequences, occurring both cranial (n = 4/12; 33%) and caudal (n = 2/12; 17%) to the SAD. These results support the ability of cine bFFE sequences to identify dynamic pulsation of canine SAD. This technique is currently limited by banding artifacts and its inability to quantify flow velocity and abnormal flow jets.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31113570/