Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Dog with left leg lameness from far lateral disc herniation
By Fadda, A et al.·Published in Veterinary and comparative orthopaedics and traumatology : V.C.O.T·2013·Department of Clinical Neurology·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Far lateral lumbar disc extrusion: MRI findings and surgical treatment.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A 5-year-old male Alpine Dachsbracke was brought in for progressive limping in his left back leg and back pain that had lasted a week. An MRI revealed a herniated disc pressing on a nerve in his lower back, but because the disc was positioned far to the side, surgery didn't require opening the spinal canal. The vet successfully removed the herniated disc material through a lateral approach. After surgery, the dog made a complete recovery and showed no signs of pain within a couple of weeks.
People also search for: dog limping back leg · Alpine Dachsbracke disc herniation treatment · dog back pain recovery time
Abstract
This case report describes the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings and the treatment of a far lateral extrusion of disc material at the sixth and seventh lumbar vertebrae (L6-L7) in a five-year-old male Alpine Dachsbracke dog referred to our hospital for investigation of the complaint of a one week progressive lameness in the left pelvic limb and poorly localized back pain. An extra-foraminal left lateral disc herniation impinging on the sixth lumbar nerve root was diagnosed by MRI examinations. Due to the far lateral position of the extruded disc material on MRI, surgical opening of the spinal canal was not necessary. Removal of the herniated soft disc material impinging on the L6 nerve root, and fenestration of the L6-L7 disc was performed laterally. To the author's knowledge 'far-lateral' disc herniation beyond the neuroforamen without any spinal canal contact has not been described in dogs until now. A complete recovery with no evidence of pain was achieved only after a couple of weeks after surgery. We acknowledge that it is possible that other pathological mechanisms may have contributed to clinical signs and to a delayed recovery.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23857574/