Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Dog developed spinal hematoma and air after disc surgery causing
By Cornelis, I et al.·Published in Australian veterinary journal·2016·The Royal Veterinary College, United Kingdom·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Postoperative symptomatic haematoma and pneumorrhachis in a dog with a thoracolumbar intervertebral disc extrusion.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A 6-year-old male neutered crossbreed dog suddenly lost the ability to use his back legs after surgery for a slipped disc in his spine. Two days after the operation, he became worse and showed signs of severe pain along his back. A CT scan revealed air in the spine and a blood clot that was pressing on his spinal cord. After a second surgery to remove the clot, the dog started to recover and was back to normal six weeks later.
People also search for: dog back leg weakness after surgery · dog spinal surgery complications · dog recovery from slipped disc surgery
Abstract
CASE REPORT: A 6-year-old male neutered crossbreed dog presented with acute onset paraparesis and was diagnosed with an L1-L2 intervertebral disc extrusion. A right-sided T13-L2 hemilaminectomy was performed. However, the dog deteriorated and became paraplegic with marked thoracolumbar hyperaesthesia 48 h after surgery. A computed tomography scan of the thoracolumbar vertebral column revealed the presence of pneumorrhachis (PR) at the level of T13, possibly embedded in a haematoma, and causing marked spinal cord compression. Revision surgery confirmed the presence of a haematoma, which was removed. The dog gradually improved and was neurologically normal 6 weeks after surgery. CONCLUSION: Although PR is a rare condition, it may be considered a possible cause for early postoperative neurological deterioration in dogs undergoing decompressive spinal surgery. Surgical revision resulted in a good outcome in the presented case.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27807843/