Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Surgery outcomes for dogs with bleeding and disk spine compression
By Lawler, Patricia E et al.·Published in Frontiers in veterinary science·2022·Department of Clinical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Comparison of Surgical Outcomes Associated With Compression Secondary to Hemorrhage and Intervertebral Disk Extrusions in Dogs.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of 143 dogs with back problems was studied to see how well they recovered from surgery for intervertebral disk issues. Some dogs had additional complications from bleeding, while others had typical disk herniations. The results showed that both groups had similar recovery rates after surgery, meaning that dogs with bleeding-related compression did just as well as those without. This suggests that as long as the surgery effectively relieves pressure on the spine, the outcomes for both types of dogs can be quite similar.
People also search for: dog back surgery recovery · intervertebral disk disease treatment · dog spinal surgery outcomes
Abstract
Acute intervertebral disk extrusion (IVDE) is one of the most commonly reported neurologic disorders seen in veterinary practice. There is a recognized subset of IVDE cases that have a hemorrhagic inflammatory reaction within the epidural space that causes compression in addition to compression from herniated disk material. Previous reports have been conflicting in the outcomes of these cases. The goals of this retrospective case-control cross-sectional study are to (1) compare the success rate of routine surgical decompression in dogs with DEEH compression compared to Modified Frankel Score (MFS) matched dogs with non-hemorrhagic disk extrusions; (2) evaluate the extent of spinal cord compression on MRI compared to final patient outcomes in DEEH compression and (3) determine the surgical compression to decompression ratio and its relation to patient outcomes in cases of DEEH compression. A total of 143 dogs were included in this study and divided into two groups: DEEH compression dogs (= 78) and non-hemorrhagic IVDE dogs (= 65). Outcomes were assigned for each patient [0 = deceased, 1 = alive and non-ambulatory (MFS 0-3), 2 = alive and ambulatory (MFS 4 or 5)] in both groups. Outcomes of DEEH and non-hemorrhagic IVDE did not differ when taken to surgery with comparable success rates when stratified by MFS. Similarly, outcomes did not differ between DEEH and non-hemorrhagic IVDE dogs when assessed by compression to decompression ratio. Dogs with DEEH compression had more compressed sites than dogs with non-hemorrhagic IVDE (= 0.001) and had more sites decompressed surgically than dogs with non-hemorrhagic IVDE (< 0.001). Consequently, the compression to decompression ratio did not differ between the two groups (= 0.52). Our results support the finding that when a similar level of surgical decompression is achieved, dogs with DEEH compression have similar outcomes to dogs with non-hemorrhagic IVDE for similar degrees of neurological dysfunction.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35859807/