Work

Epidemiological Data, Clinical Signs, Therapy and Outcome Evaluation in Dogs with Syringomyelia of Different Etiology

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Syringomyelia detected in both animals and humans may cause variable degree of dis-comfort and its etiology is commonly unidentified. The aim of the study was to compare the outcome in dogs with syringomyelia of different etiology. Dogs with syringomyelia were subdivided into two groups: A: Syringomyelia associated with Chiari-like malfor-mation (S-CLM) (15 dogs) and B: syringomyelia of other etiology (SOA) (15 dogs). Age on-set of S-CLM clinical signs was earlier compared to SOA (mean S-CLM and SOA values: 50.53 and 97.6 months, respectively, p=0.021). Two neurological dysfunction scoring sys-tems alongside with nociception values were lower in SOA compared to S-CLM (mean values for neurological dysfunction scoring system SOA and S-CLM: 5.87 and 4.2, respec-tively, p=0.032) (mean values for nociception SOA and S-CLM: 20.97 and 10.03, respec-tively, p=0.03). Symptomatic therapy included combinations of corticosteroids, gabapen-tin (10/15, 66.6%) in S-CLM and NSAID +/- gabapentin (8/15, 53.3% and 9/15, 60%, respec-tively) in SOA dogs. Eight S-CLM dogs (53.4%) improved with symptomatic therapy and 11 were still alive however most SOA dogs (9/15, 73.4%) died/were euthanized by the end of the study. SOA dogs demonstrated more severe neurological signs compared to S-CLM, although outcome between the two groups was not associated (p=0.211).

Source: Veterinary Sciences

DOI: 10.3390/vetsci12040376

Authors: Rania D. Baka, Ioannis Savvas, Eirini Sarpekidou, George Kazakos, Zoe Polizopoulou

Institution: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Language: English

Topic: Veterinary Orthopedics and Neurology

Subfield: Small Animals

Field: Veterinary

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,534