Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Cat with spinal pain from kissing spine syndrome treated with surgery
By Gutierrez-Quintana, Rodrigo et al.·Published in Journal of feline medicine and surgery·2011·School of Veterinary Medicine, United Kingdom·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Dorsal spinous process impingement syndrome ('kissing spine') in a cat: imaging appearance and surgical management.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A 5-year-old cat was brought in for severe back pain that had been getting worse over the past seven months. X-rays showed that the bones in her spine were too close together, causing discomfort. The veterinarian performed surgery to remove part of the affected bone, which completely relieved her pain. Nine months later, the cat showed no signs of the problem returning and was back to her normal self.
People also search for: cat back pain treatment · kissing spine in cats · cat spinal surgery recovery · why is my cat in pain · cat thoracic vertebrae issues
Abstract
Spinal pain is an important clinical presentation in feline patients, but the underlying causes can often be difficult to elucidate. Dorsal spinous process impingement syndrome ('kissing spine' or in human patients 'Baastrup syndrome') is a significant cause of spinal pain in equine and human patients and radiographically is characterised by a close approximation of adjacent spinous processes with reactive bone sclerosis affecting these spinous processes. In this report we describe the first reported case of dorsal spinous process impingement syndrome in a cat causing spinal pain, and successful surgical management of the syndrome. The affected cat presented at 5 years of age for evaluation of a 7-month history of progressive thoracolumbar pain. Radiographs revealed close approximation of the dorsal spinous processes of the seventh, eighth and ninth thoracic vertebrae (T7, T8 and T9), with associated reactive bone sclerosis. Surgical resection of the T8 dorsal spinous process resulted in complete resolution of the clinical signs with no evidence of recurrence 9 months after surgery.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21723173/