Significance of intramedullary T2* signal voids in the magnetic resonance imaging of paraplegic deep pain-negative dogs following intervertebral disc extrusion at short-term follow-up

Introduction Dogs presenting as paraplegic without nociception due to a thoracolumbar intervertebral disc extrusion provide difficult decision both the clinician and owner. The prognosis when performing surgical decompression remains guarded. Aside from significant extradural compression, these dogs often have secondary spinal cord injury, which has shown be an important factor in determining likelihood of developing progressive myelomalacia return ambulation. Materials methods This is retrospective, observational, single centre study including 82 with absent diagnosed extrusion. Patients underwent MRI spine, gradient echo sequence was evaluated for presence intramedullary signal void artefacts. Decompressive surgery performed, patients were at short term follow up (at least four weeks post-surgery). Results Overall, 59.8% regained within period. number significantly reduced 33.3% multiple voids present (compared 67.3% voids). There no difference rate between groups. Conclusions paper adds existing literature suggests that may use assessing acute injury context how it relates prognosis.