Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Necrotizing brain inflammation in Pugs - age and survival details
By Levine, J M et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary internal medicine·2008·Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Epidemiology of necrotizing meningoencephalitis in Pug dogs.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A 2-year-old female Pug was diagnosed with necrotizing meningoencephalitis (NME), a serious brain condition that can cause seizures and other neurological symptoms. This condition is more common in young female Pugs, and affected dogs typically have a lower weight compared to healthy ones. Treatment with anticonvulsive medications was found to help these dogs live longer, with an average survival time of about 93 days. While more research is needed to find the best treatments, using anticonvulsants seems to improve outcomes for dogs suffering from NME.
People also search for: Pug seizures treatment · necrotizing meningoencephalitis in dogs · Pug brain disease symptoms
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Although the histopathologic features of necrotizing meningoencephalitis (NME) have been described previously, little information is available concerning the signalment, geographic distribution, seasonal onset, treatment, and survival of affected dogs. ANIMALS: Sixty Pugs with NME and 14 contemporaneous control Pugs with other intracranial diseases (non-NME group). METHODS: Pugs that were euthanized or died because of intracranial disease were prospectively obtained. All dogs had necropsy, histopathology, and testing for various infectious diseases and were subsequently divided into NME and non-NME groups. Signalment, geographic distribution, seasonal onset, treatment, and survival were compared between groups. RESULTS: In Pugs with NME, median age at onset of clinical signs was 18 months (range, 4-113 months). A greater proportion of female dogs were present in the NME group (40/60) compared with the control group (6/14). Pugs with NME had a significantly lower mean weight (7.81 kg) than control Pugs (9.79 kg) (P= .012). Mean survival in Pugs with NME was 93 days (range, 1-680 days), with dogs receiving any form of treatment living significantly longer than those that were not treated (P= .003). Anticonvulsive drugs were the only treatment significantly associated with longer survival (P= .003). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: NME appears to be a common cause of intracranial signs in Pugs, based on the high proportion of NME dogs reported in this population. Pugs with NME are most commonly young adult female dogs. Although further investigation is needed to determine the optimal treatment of NME, anticonvulsive drugs appear to beneficially affect duration of survival.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18647157/