Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Dog with neck pain and stiff walk had porcupine quill in spine seen
By Schneider, Adam R et al.·Published in Veterinary radiology & ultrasound : the official journal of the American College of Veterinary Radiology and the International Veterinary Radiology Association·2010·Veterinary Teaching Hospital at Washington State University, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Imaging diagnosis--Vertebral canal porcupine quill with presumptive secondary arachnoid diverticulum.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A 3-year-old Gordon Setter was brought to the vet because he was showing signs of neck pain and had a stiff walk. An MRI scan revealed a fluid-filled sac (arachnoid diverticulum) in his neck, and during surgery, the vet found a porcupine quill lodged in his spinal canal. After removing the quill, the dog's symptoms improved significantly. This case highlights that while porcupine quills can often migrate in dogs, it's unusual for them to end up in the central nervous system.
People also search for: dog neck pain · Gordon Setter stiff gait · porcupine quill removal in dogs
Abstract
A 3-year-old Gordon Setter developed cervical hyperesthesia and a stiff gait. Upon magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, an arachnoid diverticulum was detected at the C1 level. Upon surgical resection, a porcupine quill was identified within the vertebral canal in the area of the cyst. At a retrospective review of the MR images, the quill appeared as a circular well-demarcated T2-hypointense lesion. Porcupine quill migrations are common in the dog but migration into the central nervous system is rare.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20402400/