Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Paraplegia and coma after lumbar tap in two dogs
By Schwab, Marcelo Luís et al.·Published in Topics in companion animal medicine·2022·Department of Small Animal Clinic and Surgery, Brazil·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Clinical and Histopathological Findings of Hemorrhagic Progressive Myelomalacia after Lumbar Tap in 2 Dogs: Case Report.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A Bichon Frise and a Boxer, both suffering from epileptic seizures, underwent a procedure called a lumbar tap to collect fluid from their spines. Unfortunately, after the taps, the Bichon Frise became unable to walk and the Boxer did not wake up from anesthesia, remaining in a coma. Sadly, both dogs were euthanized about 12 hours later. Postmortem examinations revealed that both dogs had severe spinal cord damage known as progressive myelomalacia, which may have been caused by the lumbar tap procedure. This case serves as a warning that such procedures can lead to serious complications.
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Abstract
Bichon frise (1) and Boxer (2), both with epileptic seizures, underwent lumbar taps for cerebrospinal fluid collection. After the procedure, the first dog became paraplegic, and the second dog did not recover from anesthesia and remained in a coma. Both dogs were euthanatized 12 h after the examination. The dogs were diagnosed with idiopathic epilepsy and fibrillar astrocytoma, respectively, after postmortem examination. They were also diagnosed with progressive myelomalacia, involving C1-C5 until the L4-S3 spinal segments. Since it was not possible to attribute the development of myelomalacia to the primary diseases observed, the lumbar tap likely caused this severe spinal cord injury. These reports highlight myelomalacia as a possible complication of lumbar taps.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35718281/