Lumbosacral degenerative stenosis in the dog. The results of epidural infiltration with methylprednisolone acetate: a retrospective study.

Thirty-eight dogs with Hansen type II lumbosacral disc protrusion were treated with epidural infiltration of methylprednisolone acetate between the seventh lumbar vertebra and the sacrum. Epidural infiltration was carried out under C-arm fluoroscopic guidance at standardised intervals for the first three treatments and later on demand. Retrospective evaluation by owner questionnaire found that 79% of the animals were considered to have improved, and 53% were totally cured. Epidural infiltration with methylprednisolone acetate has a clinical outcome comparable to decompressive surgery and can be safely used as a less invasive alternative.

¿Lepra o Morfea? / No disponible

Estudiamos un niño de tres años de edad con una placa dorsal que había comenzado dos años antes como un nódulo discreto, que se interpretó como un tumor benigno. La lesión aumentó de tamaño en los últimos seis meses y se convirtió en una placa firme, infiltrada, dolorosa a la presión profunda. Se interpretó clínicamente como morfea. La biopsia de piel, de 10 x 4 x 3 mm, mostró esclerosis dérmica e inflamación linfohistiocitaria importante sin granulomas, más notoria en el límite dermohipodérmico, con notorio infiltrado perineural, de difícil diferenciación con lepra indeterminada o dimorfa lepromatosa. Los cortes seriados, la correlación clínico patológica, la ausencia de daño neural notorio en los nervios situados en el centro de la inflamación, la negatividad del Ziehl-Neelsen y la esclerosis dérmica permitieron concluir que el niño tenía morfea. Esta entidad es un diagnóstico diferencial importante clínico de lepra tuberculoide e histológico, de lepra indeterminada. Una biopsia amplia (10 x 5 x 7 mm), con hipodermis, facilita establecer la diferencia por la presencia de esclerosis, propia de la morfea y no de la lepra, por la ausencia de daño intra y perineural en la morfea, en los filetes nerviosos situados dentro del proceso inflamatorio, daño que es muy notorio en la lepra (AU)

No disponible

Assessment of the usefulness of the fenestration method in cases of disc extrusion in the cervical and thoraco-lumbar spine in chondrodystrophic dogs.

The aim of this paper was to assess the effectiveness of treatment of Type I (according to Hansen) intervertebral disc extrusion using the fenestration method. The evaluated clinical material included 37 chondrodystrophic dogs in which multiple fenestration (from 2 to 6 intervertebral spaces) was performed. Dachshunds comprised 86.5% of patients. All dogs were administered corticosteroids during the operation. A mass similar to a slightly jelly-like yogurt, cottage cheese or plaster-like consistency was extracted. In one case a post-surgical pyogenic infection of the wound occured. In two cases, a deterioration in the neurological state followed the fenestration procedure of the cervical spine. In one case of thoraco-lumbar spine fenestration, a deterioration of clinical state was found. Recovery was observed after disc extrusion from the cervical spine in 8 out of 11 dogs, from the thoraco-lumbar spine in 12 out of 14 dogs with the 2nd grade clinical signs and in 11 out of 12 dogs with the 3rd grade clinical sings. In 6 dogs, recurrence of first or second grade clinical signs occurred, but only half of them had to undergo treatment. The probability of dog recovery did not depend on the degree of symptom intensity in a statistically significant way (p=0.11) or on the duration of the disease before the surgical treatment (p=0.87).

Leydig cell hyperplasia and the maintenance of bone volume: bone histomorphometry and testicular histopathology in 29 male leprosy autopsy cases.

This study was conducted to determine if osteoporosis in male leprosy patients is caused by testicular atrophy. Bone volume (BV/TV), trabecular number (TbN), trabecular thickness (TbTh), and trabecular separation (TbSp) were measured in two areas in decalcified paraffin sections of lumbar bones from 29 male leprosy and 6 male nonleprosy autopsy cases. We found significant differences in the average BV/TV measurements among the 7 patients with nodular Leydig cell hyperplasia (BV/TV 12.24%) and the 22 patients without hyperplasia (BV/TV 7.35%) and 6 patients without leprosy (BV/TV 12.98%). Bone volume was maintained in patients with nodular Leydig cell hyperplasia, and we determined no clinical factor other than the Leydig cell hyperplasia that reflected the bone volume. The osteoporosis of male leprosy patients was attributed to secondary gonadal dysfunction due to testicular atrophy, and Leydig cell hyperplasia appears to preserve bone volume.

Thoracolumbar intervertebral disk disease in large, nonchondrodystrophic dogs: a retrospective study.

Medical records of 62 large, nonchondrodystrophic dogs diagnosed with thoracolumbar intervertebral disk disease between March 1986 and February 1996 were reviewed. Fifty-seven (92%), primarily mixed-breed dogs (mean age, 6.6 years) had Hansen type I disease. Fifty-eight percent had acute onset. The interspace between the first (L1) and second (L2) lumbar vertebrae was affected most commonly. The outcomes of the 48 dogs available for follow-up after undergoing laminectomies were evaluated. Surgical success rate and mean time to walking for nonambulatory dogs with deep pain perception was 90% and seven weeks, respectively. Thirty-nine percent had residual deficits. Following surgery, 12% had recurrence of disk protrusion/extrusion at a different site.