Abstract
A six-year-old Ragdoll cat underwent examination due to a six-month history of slowly progressive gait abnormalities. The cat presented with an ambulatory tetraparesis with a neurological examination indicating a C1-T2 myelopathy. Radiographs of the spine showed a radiopaque irregular line ventrally in the vertebral canal dorsal to vertebral bodies C3-C5. In this area, magnetic resonance imaging revealed an intradural extramedullary/extradural lesion compressing the spinal cord. The spinal cord was surgically decompressed. The cause of the spinal cord compression was dural ossification, a diagnosis confirmed by histopathological examination of the surgically dissected sample of dura mater. The cat gradually improved after the procedure and was ambulating better than prior to the surgery. The cat’s locomotion later worsened again due to ossified plaques in the dura causing spinal cord compression on the same cervical area as before. Oral prednisolone treatment provided temporary remission. Ten months after surgery, the cat was euthanized due to severe worsening of gait abnormalities, non-ambulatory tetraparesis. Necropsy confirmed spinal cord compression and secondary degenerative changes in the spinal cord on cervical and lumbar areas caused by dural ossification. To our knowledge, this is the first report of spinal dural ossification in a cat. The reported cat showed neurological signs associated with these dural changes. Dural ossification should be considered in the differential diagnosis of compressive spinal cord disorders in cats.
Highlights
Spinal dural ossification is a relatively common finding in dogs, in middle-aged or older dogs [1]
This paper describes the diagnostic work-up, surgical treatment and outcome in a cat with neurological signs due to spinal dural ossification
The necropsy of the cat revealed a minor meningioma in the cerebrum, a finding associated with no neurological signs and believed to have no association with the dural ossification in the cat
Summary
Spinal dural ossification (i.e. osseous dural metaplasia, ossifying pachymeningitis) is a relatively common finding in dogs, in middle-aged or older dogs [1]. In the sagittal and transverse T1W and T2W images, intradural extramedullary/ extradural hypointensity was causing ventrodorsal spinal cord flattening and compression at the level of vertebral bodies C3-C5 (Figures 2A-B, 3A-F). The dura mater was sharply dissected from the left, dorsal and ventral part of the underlying spinal cord at the level of vertebral bodies C3-C5. In the transverse and sagittal T1W and T2W images, intradural extramedullary/ extradural hypointensity was causing ventrodorsal spinal cord flattening and compression at the level of vertebral bodies C3-C5. The cat was euthanized due to severe worsening of gait abnormalities, non-ambulatory tetraparesis, and was sent for necropsy (Pathology Unit, Evira, Helsinki, Finland). The affected areas of the spinal cord showed multifocal atrophy of the ventral funiculi corresponding to the depressions observed macroscopically. An incidental finding was a syncytial meningioma, 1 mm in diameter, in the caudal commissure of the cerebrum
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