Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Clinical signs and malformations in toy-breed dogs with atlanto-axial
By Itoh, Harumichi et al.·Published in PloS one·2024·Department of Small Animal Clinical Science, Japan·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Relationship between clinical parameters and malformations in dogs diagnosed with atlanto-axial instability.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of toy-breed dogs diagnosed with atlanto-axial instability, a condition affecting the neck, were found to have various other health issues. Many of these dogs showed signs of additional problems like occipital dysplasia and Chiari-like malformation. The study indicated that lighter weight dogs were more likely to have multiple concurrent diseases. This suggests that if your toy breed dog has atlanto-axial instability, it’s important to have them thoroughly evaluated for other potential health issues to ensure they receive the best care possible.
People also search for: toy breed dog neck problems · atlanto-axial instability treatment · Chiari-like malformation in dogs
Abstract
Atlanto-axial instability is a common disease that affects toy-breed dogs. Most cases of atlanto-axial instability are congenital. Furthermore, patients with atlanto-axial instability are predisposed to other concurrent diseases. Therefore, this study aimed to retrospectively determine the presence of concurrent diseases in cases with atlanto-axial instability using imaging data and analyze the relationship between clinical parameters and the incidence of complex malformations. The clinical data and imaging findings of 41 toy-breed dogs diagnosed with atlanto-axial instability were analyzed using their medical records and imaging data. Occipital dysplasia (17/27), atlanto-occipital overlapping (22/34), dens dysplasia (27/41), Chiari-like malformation (8/34), syringomyelia (5/34), lateral ventricular enlargement (20/36), and intracranial arachnoid cyst (5/35) were observed in patients with atlanto-axial instability. The body weight of the patients in the groups with atlanto-occipital overlapping and lateral ventricular enlargement was lower than that of those in the groups without these diseases (1.78 ± 0.71 vs 2.71 ± 1.15 kg, P = 0.0269, 1.60 ± 0.40 vs 2.75 ± 1.08 kg, P = 0.001, respectively). Furthermore, when the correlation between the total number of concurrent diseases and the age at onset and body weight was examined, it became clear that lower body weight was associated with the incidence of a greater number of concurrent diseases. Thus, the findings of this study suggest that toy-breed dogs are more likely to present with complex malformations and should be evaluated carefully with additional examinations and treatment methods.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38324604/