Cranial thoracic disc protrusions in three German Shepherd dogs

Upper Thoracic Disc Disease (T1–T9) in Large-Breed Dogs

“…There is even less literature regarding upper thoracic IVDD (i.e., T1-T9) in dogs and it consists primarily of case reports or small case series. [1][2][3][4][5] According to Macias et al (2002) T12-T13, T13-L1, L1-L2, and L2-L3 were the most common single sites affected in large-breed dogs. Forty-seven percent of those cases had multiple sites affected.…”

“…The next report came as a short communication about three German shepherd dogs. All three dogs had disc protrusions at T2-T3 and hemidorsal laminectomies were performed 4. Gaitero et al went on to present the first large case series in 2011, with22 German shepherd dogs and 46 nonGerman shepherd dogs.…”

Post mortem evaluation of spinal cord and protruded intervertebral discs in dogs without neurological abnormalities

“…Type I intervertebral disc disease is extensively more common and more studied, tends to produce an acute syndrome and the rate of success of surgical treatment is better than for type II disc disease. This discrepancy is probably due to the chronicity of spinal cord compression or excessive spinal cord manipulation during surgery in type II disc disease (Moissonnier et al 2004, Gaitero & Añor 2009, but even performing corpectomy, a new surgical technique developed to decrease spinal cord manipulation during surgery, worsening of neurological status occurred in some dogs with IVD degeneration type II (Ferrand et al 2015), raising the question that these dogs could have disc degeneration and annular protrusion as a response to aging. In addition, the unsuccessful results of treatment in some dogs may be due to the presence of another neurological disease not properly investigated.…”

“…Differentiating these subtypes of intervertebral disc degeneration may impact treatment recommendations and outcomes (Fingeroth & Thomas 2015, De Decker et al 2016 and allow a better comparison among treatment results. This is important because in comparison with type I intervertebral disc disease, there are far fewer studies about type II disc disease (Cudia & Duval 1997, Macias et al 2002, Moissonnier et al 2004, Gaitero & Añor 2009, Schmied et al 2011. In other studies, the term protrusion or herniation is used instead of extrusion, making it difficult to assess the real meaning of type II degeneration in dogs and the results of treatments described in literature (Kinzel et al 2005, Flegel et al 2011, De Decker et al 2016.…”

“…Another problem related to type II disc degeneration is the lower effectiveness of surgical treatment when compared to results of surgical treatment for Type I disc disease. Many dogs presented a temporary or definitive worsening after surgical treatment that can include many techniques, such as standard hemilaminectomy with or without annulectomy of protruded material, hemilaminectomy combined with vertebral plate stabilization, dorsal laminectomy, ventral slot and lateral corpectomy (McKee & Downes 2008, Moissonnier et al 2004, Downes et al 2009, Cherrone et al 2004, Gaitero & Añor 2009, Ferrand et al 2015, raising the question as to whether these dogs could have disc degeneration and annular protrusion as a response to aging. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to analyze the frequency of disc degeneration in cadaveric spines of dogs older than seven years old without a history of neurological disease.…”