Recognition and Breed Specificity of Canine Spondyloarthropathy

Human diseases sometimes represented across phylogenetic lines. Their recognition is at times compromised by differential (between human and veterinary medicine) use of diagnostic terms. A major impetus to such change is recognition of additional treatment options that would not be considered for the replaced diagnosis/category. Canine syndesmophytes are recognized as identifier for spondyloarthropathy. This study examines the breed-specificity of those changes. The axial skeletons and peripheral joints (when available) of 1323 dogs, identified to breed, were examined for evidence of syndesmophytes and sacroiliac joint disease. Syndesmophytes were found in 315 of 1323 axial skeletons examined, extremely common in Boxer and German Shephard; rare, in Beagle, Chihauahua, Dachshund, Maltese and Pug. First noted at 2 years of age, its prevalence increased geometrically over the next 13 years. All affected individuals weighed more than 2 kilograms and prevalence increased geometrically through 39.9 kilograms. Spondyloarthropathy was present in 17.3% of brachycephalic, contrasted with 35.0% of mesticephalic dogs [Chi square = 16.972, p < 0.0001]. Presence of syndesmophytes identified the underlying arthritis as spondyloarthropathy, not osteoarthritis. Recognition of the vertebral findings as characteristic of this inflammatory arthritis affords an opportunity for controlling the disease process and improving quality of life of the afflicted dog. *Corresponding author: Bruce M Rothschild, Carnegie Museum 4400 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 44272, USA, Tel: 011-785-615-1523; E-mail: [email protected] Received March 03, 2016; Accepted March 03, 2016; Published March 18, 2016 Citation: Rothschild B, Breit S (2016) Recognition and Breed Specificity of Canine Spondyloarthropathy. J Spine 5: 293. doi:10.4172/2165-7939.1000293 Copyright: © 2016 Bruce Rothschild MD, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.