Abstract
Background: Recent studies suggest that clinically sound ventriculomegaly in dogs could be a preliminary form of the clinically significant hydrocephalus. We evaluated changes of ventricular volumes in awake functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) trained dogs with indirectly assessed cognitive abilities over time (thus avoiding the use of anaesthetics, which can alter the pressure). Our research question was whether ventricular enlargement developing over time would have any detrimental effect on staying still while being scanned; which can be extrapolated to the ability to pay attention and to exert inhibition. Methods: Seven healthy dogs, 2–8 years old at the baseline scan and 4 years older at rescan, participated in a rigorous and gradual training for staying motionless (<2 mm) in the magnetic resonance (MR) scanner without any sedation during 6 minute-long structural MR sequences. On T1 structural images, volumetric analyses of the lateral ventricles were completed by software guided semi-automated tissue-type segmentations performed with FMRIB Software Library (FSL, Analysis Group, Oxford, UK). Results and conclusion: We report significant enlargement for both ventricles (left: 47.46 %, right: 46.07 %) over time while dogs retained high levels of attention and inhibition. The results suggest that even considerable ventricular enlargement arising during normal aging does not necessarily reflect observable pathological changes in behavior.
Highlights
Hydrocephalus is an abnormal accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) that requires clinical attention and may result in a diversity of neurological symptoms, including visual or auditory impairment, seizures, incoordination, abnormal behavior such as depression, hyper-excitability, and cognitive dysfunction [1,2,3,4].Diagnosis of hydrocephalus in dogs is based on the assessment of the clinical presentation and diagnostic imaging results, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
Thomas argued that any condition causing thinning of the brain parenchyma, which leaves a vacant space to be filled by CSF, should not be regarded as hydrocephalus [8]
OurAim aimofwas to investigate whether lateral ventricle enlargement would be observable based on MR measurements acquired from healthy a four-year-long that four years
Summary
Diagnosis of hydrocephalus in dogs is based on the assessment of the clinical presentation and diagnostic imaging results, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). It is important to highlight that currently, there is still no consensus and no clearly defined delineation between these two conditions This ambiguity can make arriving to the diagnosis and clinical decisions difficult. We evaluated changes of ventricular volumes in awake functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) trained dogs with indirectly assessed cognitive abilities over time ( avoiding the use of anaesthetics, which can alter the pressure). Results and conclusion: We report significant enlargement for both ventricles (left: 47.46 %, right: 46.07 %) over time while dogs retained high levels of attention and inhibition. The results suggest that even considerable ventricular enlargement arising during normal aging does not necessarily reflect observable pathological changes in behavior
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