Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Dog with neck spinal cyst and paralysis recovers without surgery
By Kamishina, Hiroaki et al.·Published in The Journal of veterinary medical science·2010·Department of Veterinary Medicine, Japan·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Spontaneous regression of a cervical intraspinal cyst in a dog.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A dog with a spinal cyst was brought in after showing weakness in all four legs. An MRI showed a cyst near a damaged disc in the spine, which usually requires surgery. However, in this case, the dog surprisingly recovered on its own without any treatment, and a follow-up MRI showed that the cyst and the pressure on the spinal cord were completely gone. This suggests that some spinal cysts in dogs can resolve naturally, similar to rare cases seen in humans.
People also search for: dog weakness in legs · spinal cyst in dogs · dog MRI results · dog recovery from spinal issues
Abstract
We report a cervical intraspinal cyst in a dog that was initially tetraparetic but spontaneously recovered completely. MRI revealed a well-demarcated intraspinal cyst located dorsally to a degenerated intervertebral disc. The location of the cyst and its signal features on MRI resembled those of discal cysts previously reported in humans. It has been reported in dogs that clinical signs of a intraspinal cyst are similar to those of intervertebral disc herniation and both conditions require surgical intervention. Unexpectedly, our case showed rapid spontaneous recovery and the follow-up MRI revealed complete resolution of the intraspinal cyst and spinal cord compression. Spontaneous recovery of degenerative intraspinal cyst may occur in dogs, similar to rare human cases as reported previously.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19952512/