Relationship between the severity of neurological signs in dogs with thoracolumbar intervertebral disc disease and the magnitude of spinal cord compression by disc extrusion as assessed by computed tomography

Abstract

The aim of this study was to verify the relationship between the degree of severity of neurological signs in dogs with thoracolumbar intervertebral disc disease (TL-IVDD) and the magnitude of spinal cord compression on the computed tomography (CT) transverse view of the vertebra at the site of the greatest narrowing of the spinal canal caused by extruded disc material. In a total of 78 dogs with TL-IVDD, the greatest narrowing of the spinal canal at the site of greatest spinal cord compression was observed in the T11-T12 region (48.35 ± 20.70%) and the smallest in the L2-L3 region (33.06 ± 15.40%). There was a significant difference in the percentage of spinal canal narrowing between the L2-L3 region and the T11-T12 (P = 0.034), T12-T13 (P = 0.033) and T13-L1 (P = 0.022) regions, respectively. Females showed a significantly higher percentage of spinal canal narrowing compared to males (P = 0.029); the highest percentage of spinal canal narrowing was found in neutered females compared to intact females (P = 0.013), neutered males (P = 0.029), and intact males (P = 0.001), respectively. In addition, the dogs included in the study were divided into a group of chondrodystrophic (n = 55) and a group of nonchondrodystrophic (n = 23) dogs. Dogs of chondrodystrophic breeds generally showed a highly significantly (P = 0.001) more severe degree of neurological signs compared to dogs of nonchondrodystrophic breeds. Results of this study can be useful in veterinary practice diagnostics.