Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Dog with sudden back leg weakness diagnosed with spinal tumor on MRI
By de la Fuente, Cristian et al.·Published in Veterinary radiology & ultrasound : the official journal of the American College of Veterinary Radiology and the International Veterinary Radiology Association·2014·Department of Animal Medicine and Surgery, Spain·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Imaging diagnosis--Spinal epidural hemangiosarcoma in a dog.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
An 8-year-old male Boxer suddenly had trouble walking and was found to have weakness in his back legs. A neurologic exam suggested a problem in the spine, and imaging tests showed a mass pressing on the spinal cord. Unfortunately, after the dog passed away, it was confirmed that the mass was a type of cancer called hemangiosarcoma. This case highlights how similar the MRI appearance of this cancer can be to other conditions, making diagnosis challenging.
People also search for: Boxer dog back leg weakness · dog spinal cancer symptoms · hemangiosarcoma treatment in dogs
Abstract
An 8-year-old, male Boxer was examined for an acute onset of ambulatory paraparesis. Neurologic examination was consistent with a T3-L3 myelopathy. Myelography revealed an extradural spinal cord compression in the region of the T10-T13 vertebrae. On magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, a well-defined epidural mass lesion was detected. The mass was mildly hyperintense on T1-weighted, hyperintense on T2-weighted and STIR images compared to normal spinal cord and enhanced strongly and homogenously. Postmortem examination confirmed a primary epidural hemangiosarcoma. Findings indicated that the MRI characteristics of spinal epidural hemangiosarcoma may mimic other lesions including meningioma and epidural hemorrhages/hematomas of non-neoplastic etiology.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23815770/