Traumatic brain injury in dogs and cats: a systematic review

Abstract

Traumatic brain injury occurs frequently in dogs and cats due to motor vehicle accidents, falls and crush injuries. The primary lesion occurs at the time of injury and causes direct, irreversible damage to the brain parenchyma and vasculature. Secondary lesions occur in the minutes following the trauma due to a combination of physical and biochemical changes that lead to intracranial hypertension. Therefore, knowing the pathophysiology of the cranioencephalic trauma is essential for treatment directed at minimising secondary damage. The approach to the patient affected by traumatic brain injury is based on the ABCD of trauma, guided by the neurological examination with the aid of imaging exams and adequate therapeutic measures. The treatment of patients with cranioencephalic trauma is still in many ways controversial. For that reason, this literature review aims to address the main points regarding the pathophysiology of this disease and to describe the clinical and surgical therapeutic options currently available.

CT Findings and Histological Evaluation of Red Foxes (Vulpes vulpes) with Chronic Head Trauma Injury: A Retrospective Study

“…Despite traumatic brain injury frequently occurring in dogs and cats with a high mortality rate [ 7 ], mainly due to the secondary lesions that occur within minutes of the injury [ 7 , 8 ], scanty data are available for traumatized foxes.…”

“…The primary injury occurs immediately after trauma due to the physical insult and the disruption of intracranial structures at the time of impact [ 5 ]. The most severe forms of primary brain injury are lacerations, but vasogenic edema may also occur if there is a direct vascular injury followed by intracranial hemorrhage [ 7 , 9 ].…”

“…Secondary injuries occur in the minutes or even days following trauma and involve the activation of several biomechanical mechanisms that together act to perpetuate brain lesions and whose course is a determining factor for the patient’s prognosis [ 7 , 10 ].…”

Antioxidative and Neurotherapeutic Effect of Ascorbic acid on Albino rats Induced with Traumatic Brain Injury

“…The direct mechanical impact causes immediate disruption of brain tissue at the time of exposure to the external force and results in contusion, damage to blood vessels (hemorrhage) (Dadas et al 2018) and axonal shearing (Donate et al 2017). While the delayed or secondary complex cellular injury is the result of cascades of metabolic, cellular and molecular events including: glutamate excitotoxicity, perturbation of cellular calcium homeostasis, increased free radical generation and lipid peroxidation (Dos Santos et al 2018).…”

Experimental models for preclinical investigations of novel drugs for traumatic brain injury = Pirmsklīnisko pētījumu eksperimentālie modeļi galvas traumu pētījumiem ar jaunām zāļu vielām

“…Mazajiem dzīvniekiem (suņiem un kaķiem) biežākie TSB cēloņi ir ceļu satiksmes negadījumi, kritieni no liela augstuma un cilvēku uzbrukumi (Santos et al, 2018;Elias et al, 2019). Nepietiekamas mazo dzīvnieku klīnisko datu informācijas dēļ TSB ārstēšana, galvenokārt, balstās uz datiem no pētījumiem eksperimentālajos dzīvniekos (mazajos grauzējos) un cilvēkos (Santos et al, 2018;Elias et al, 2019;Evans and Fernandez, 2019).…”