Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Risk factors and rates of spinal cord death in dogs after back disc
By Balducci, F et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary internal medicine·2017·Portoni Rossi Veterinary Hospital, Italy·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Prevalence and Risk Factors for Presumptive Ascending/Descending Myelomalacia in Dogs after Thoracolumbar Intervertebral Disk Herniation.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of 652 dogs with severe back problems from intervertebral disk herniation underwent surgery, and 13 of them developed a serious condition called ascending/descending myelomalacia (ADMM). This condition was more likely to occur in dogs that were older than 5.8 years, had severe neurological signs (grade 5), and had been nonambulatory for less than 24 hours before treatment. The study found that certain factors could help predict the risk of developing ADMM after surgery. While the overall risk was low, understanding these factors can help veterinarians monitor at-risk dogs more closely after surgery.
People also search for: dog back surgery complications · myelomalacia in dogs · intervertebral disk herniation treatment · dog neurological signs after surgery
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Ascending/descending myelomalacia (ADMM) is a severe complication of thoracolumbar intervertebral disk herniation (TL-IVDH) in dogs. HYPOTHESIS/OBJECTIVES: To investigate the prevalence and risk factors for ADMM in nonambulatory dogs with surgically treated TL-IVDH. ANIMALS: Six-hundred and fifty-two client-owned dogs evaluated for TL-IVDH that underwent decompressive spinal surgery. METHODS: Retrospective medical record review from February 2007 through December 2015. RESULTS: Thirteen dogs developed ADMM, with an overall prevalence of 2.0%. The prevalence of ADMM was 0% in dogs with neurological signs graded 1 or 2 at admission or before magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or surgical procedures, 0.6% in dogs with neurological signs graded 3, 2.7% in dogs with neurological signs graded 4, and 14.5% in dogs with neurological signs graded 5. Age (<5.8 years), neurological status (grade 5), site of disk herniation (L5-L6), duration of clinical signs before becoming nonambulatory (<24 hours), detection of intramedullary T2-weighted (T2W) hyperintensity, and a T2 length ratio >4.57 were significant risk factors in the univariate analysis for development of ADMM. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: The factors identified in this study may be useful for the prediction of ADMM. Multicenter studies with a higher number of dogs with ADMM are required to confirm these data.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28144987/