Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
German shepherd dog with spinal cord tumor causing limb weakness
By Korff, Courtney P et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary internal medicine·2024·Department of Clinical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Malignant transformation of an intraparenchymal hemangioma in the cervical spinal cord of a German shepherd dog.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
An 8-year-old female spayed German shepherd was brought in because she had weakness in her right front leg for a week. An MRI scan revealed a concerning mass in her cervical spinal cord, which was later diagnosed as a type of cancer called hemangiosarcoma, originating from a previously benign growth. Unfortunately, her condition worsened rapidly, and euthanasia was chosen within a day after the MRI. This case highlights a rare occurrence of cancer in the spinal cord of dogs.
People also search for: German shepherd leg weakness · dog spinal cord tumor · hemangiosarcoma treatment in dogs
Abstract
An 8-year-old female spayed German shepherd dog was presented for evaluation of a 1-week history of right thoracic limb monoparesis. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) identified an intraparenchymal, T2 hypointense and T1 isointense, strongly heterogeneously contrast-enhancing mass with moderate internal susceptibility artifact on T2* images at the level of the cranial extent of the C5 vertebral body. Euthanasia was elected after a rapid neurologic decline in the 24 hours after MRI. Necropsy and histopathology identified an intraparenchymal hemangiosarcoma arising from a hemangioma in the cervical spinal cord, with no evidence of neoplastic disease in any other examined organs. The spectrum of vasoproliferative disorders in the central nervous system in veterinary species has been codified recently, but hemangiosarcoma is considered metastatic to the central nervous system. Herein we describe the clinical, imaging, and histologic findings in a dog with a novel primary location of hemangiosarcoma in the cervical spinal cord.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39258518/