Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Intervertebral disk width in dogs with cervical spine disease
By De Decker, Steven et al.·Published in BMC veterinary research·2012·Royal Veterinary College, United Kingdom·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Intervertebral disk width in dogs with and without clinical signs of disk associated cervical spondylomyelopathy.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of Doberman pinschers, some showing signs of neck pain and others healthy, underwent MRI to measure the width of their cervical intervertebral disks. The study found no significant difference in disk width between the dogs with neck issues and those without. However, it did reveal that as dogs age, their intervertebral disks tend to get wider. This suggests that disk width alone may not be a reliable indicator of neck problems in dogs.
People also search for: Doberman neck pain · dog cervical spondylomyelopathy symptoms · why is my dog’s neck hurting · intervertebral disk disease in dogs · aging dog health issues.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Disk-associated cervical spondylomyelopathy (DA-CSM) is a multifactorial neurological disorder in which progressive caudal cervical spinal cord compression is mainly caused by one or more intervertebral disk protrusions. The Doberman pinscher breed seems predisposed for this condition. The underlying cause and pathophysiology of DA-CSM are currently unknown. Recently, wider intervertebral disks have been put forward as a risk factor for development of clinically relevant DA-CSM. However, little is known about other factors affecting intervertebral disk width. Therefore the aim of this study was to assess the association between intervertebral disk width, measured on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and clinical status, age, gender and intervertebral disk location in dogs with and without clinical signs of DA-CSM. METHODS: Doberman pinschers with clinical signs of DA-CSM (N=17),clinically normal Doberman pinschers (N=20), and clinically normal English Foxhounds (N=17), underwent MRI of the cervical vertebral column. On sagittal T2-weighted images, intervertebral disk width was measured from C2-C3 to C6-C7. Intra -and interobserver agreement were assessed on a subset of 20 of the 54 imaging studies. RESULTS: Intervertebral disk width was not significantly different between Doberman pinschers with clinical signs of DA-CSM, clinically normal Doberman pinschers or clinically normal English Foxhounds (p=0.43). Intervertebral disk width was positively associated with increasing age (p=0.029). Each monthly increase in age resulted in an increase of disk width by 0.0057 mm. Intervertebral disk width was not significantly affected by gender (p=0.056), but was significantly influenced by intervertebral disk location (p <0.0001). The assessed measurements were associated with a good intra -and interobserver agreement. CONCLUSIONS: The present study does not provide evidence that wider intervertebral disks are associated with clinical status in dogs with and without DA-CSM. Instead, it seems that cervical intervertebral disk width in dogs is positively associated with increase in age.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22839697/