Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Cat suddenly paralyzed from spinal cord and brain embolism
By Okada, Kazuki & Kagawa, Yumiko·Published in The Journal of veterinary medical science·2019·North Lab, Japan·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Fibrocartilaginous embolism of the cervical spinal cord and cerebellum in a cat.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A 9-year-old male cat suddenly became paralyzed in all four legs. An MRI showed damage in the cervical spinal cord and brain, indicating a serious condition called fibrocartilaginous embolism, where pieces of cartilage block blood flow. Unfortunately, the cat was euthanized due to the severity of the condition. This case highlights a rare occurrence of this type of embolism affecting both the spinal cord and brain in cats.
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Abstract
A 9-year-old castrated male cat presented with sudden onset of paralysis in four limbs. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed an intramedullary lesion at C3, and lesions in the vermis and right hemisphere of the cerebellum, which were hyperintense on T2-weighted imaging. The cat was euthanized, and postmortem examination was performed. Grossly, transverse sectioning of the spinal cord revealed areas of malacia within the gray matter extending from C2 to C3. Histologically, the ventral spinal artery, the spinal intramedullary arteries and the arterioles of arachnoid in the cerebellum contained fibrocartilaginous emboli confirmed by metachromatic staining with toluidine blue. To our knowledge, this is the first report of fibrocartilaginous embolism involving both the cerebellum and cervical spinal cord in a cat.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30867352/