Fibrocartilaginous Embolism of the Spinal Cord Diagnosed by Characteristic Clinical Findings and Magnetic Resonance Imaging in 26 Dogs

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Fibrocartilaginous embolism (FCE) is a disorder of acute onset that presents with nonprogressive ataxia. We performed a retrospective examination of FCE of the spinal cord diagnosed by characteristic clinical findings and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in 26 dogs. In the present study, treatment consisting of physiotherapy alone, or this in combination with corticosteroid administration, was initiated immediately following diagnosis of FCE. Age at onset and the gender ratio in the present study closely correlated with those previously reported. In the present study, 88% of the dogs that developed FCE were small-to medium-sized, which is different from previously reported studies. There is a possibility that FCE also develops relatively frequently in small-to medium-sized dogs. No significant difference was observed between the physiotherapy alone and the physiotherapy and corticosteroids groups of dogs. FCE development has been reported predominantly at the vertebral levels C6-T2 and L4-S3 and less frequently at C1-5 and T3-L3. However, in the present study, FCE developed predominantly at T3-L3. FCE developed at T3-L3 or C1-5 in 69% of the cases in the present study, suggesting that there is relatively frequent development of FCE at these vertebral levels. The recovery time of T3-L3 was the shortest (10.2 ± 7.4 days), and that of C1-5 was next-shortest (15.8 ± 5.4) in this study. This suggested the possibility that the detection ratio of cases was low, because the symptoms in cases of FCE that has developed in C1-5 and T3-L3 would have improved before inspection in the secondary institution, where the MRI and diagnosis were performed. KEY WORDS: canine, fibrocartilaginous embolism, magnetic resonance imaging, spinal cord.

Endoscopic and histological findings in teats of dairy goats

“…Myelography is used for excluding compressive myelopathies and offers the additional advantage of cerebrospinal fluid collection for analysis. Patients with fibrocartilaginous embolic myelopathy may show an intramedullary pattern, associated with spinal cord swelling around the embolised region, or have normal findings in myelography (Nakamoto et al, 2008;Nakamoto et al, 2009). In this study, myelogra phy was performed in all cases and indicated no spinal cord compression.…”

“…Although the large and giant breeds of dogs still represent a signifi cant proportion of animals reported in many relevant publications (Gandini et al, 2003), smaller breeds, as well as mixed breed dogs, may also be affected (Nakamoto et al, 2008, De Risio andPlatt, 2010), in some studies even outnumbering larger size animals (Nakamoto et al, 2008, Nakamoto et al, 2009). In the present study, six dogs were of large breed, whilst four were medium-and four small-sized dogs (Table 1).…”

“…Advantages include the exclusion of other differential diagnostic possibili ties and the identification of signal intensity changes associated with vascular infarction (Nakamoto et al, 2008;Nakamoto et al, 2009). Unfortunately, although magnetic resonance imaging had been proposed as a diagnostic test in all dogs studied, it had been rejected by their owners for financial reasons.…”

Diagnóstico e tratamento do embolismo fibrocartilaginoso em um cão de pequeno porte: Relato de caso

“…Entretanto, o diagnóstico definitivo e o mais preciso é o exame histológico post mortem com coleta do segmento da lesão medular e posterior coloração e análise microscópica (Nakamoto et al, 2009, De Risio and Platt, 2010, Mateen et al, 2011, Chaves et al, 2013, AbdelRazek et al, 2016, De Risio, 2015, Garavito-Bernal and León-Torres, 2015, Chaves et al, 2016.…”

“…Neste caso o laudo médico sugere diagnóstico compatível com EFC, devido à lesão de isquemia medular em região C6 que apresentava região de hipodensidade na mesma área, mas que o diagnóstico definitivo só poderia ser feito por meio da ressonância magnética. Embora a TC não seja o método mais preciso de diagnóstico, ela exclui algumas mielopatias de compressão medular, como a extrusão do disco cervical e traumas (Nakamoto et al, 2009, De Risio and Platt, 2010, Mateen et al, 2011, Chaves et al, 2013, AbdelRazek et al, 2016, De Risio, 2015, Garavito-Bernal and León-Torres, 2015, Chaves et al, 2016. Haja vista que o animal realizou o exame na fase aguda, onde este é mais PUBVET v.11, n.12, p.1220-1226, Dez., 2017 sensível e a região de hipodensidade indica fortemente a presença de edema na região, compatível com as lesões encontradas em TC com EFC (De Risio and Platt, 2010, Mateen et al, 2011, De Risio, 2015, Garavito-Bernal and León-Torres, 2015, De Risio, 2014.…”