Common Neurologic Diseases in Geriatric Dogs.

The increase in the canine geriatric population means that veterinarians are more often confronted with diseases that are more prevalent in patients in this age group. As in other organ systems, degenerative, neoplastic, and vascular diseases are the most prevalent neurologic disorders in older dogs. A neurological disease in an older dog poses a challenge for the clinician due to the presence of concomitant diseases and age-related changes that make it difficult to interpret the neurological examination. In addition, given the age of the patients, some owners do not allow advanced imaging tests, and it is necessary to establish the most likely presumptive diagnosis to initiate treatment. Although many of these diseases can cause clinical signs that can be very upsetting, some of them can be managed with symptomatic therapy and have a good prognosis, such as idiopathic vestibular syndrome. Moreover, advances in and the greater availability of therapeutic options such as surgery and radiation therapy may increase survival and quality of life in diseases with a more serious prognosis, such as tumours. The aim of this review is to summarize the clinical presentation, diagnosis, and treatment of the more frequent diseases affecting the central nervous systems of geriatric dogs.

What Is Your Diagnosis?

In collaboration with the American College of Veterinary Radiology.

Topical application of melatonin and growth hormone accelerates bone healing around dental implants in dogs.

BACKGROUND: Growth hormone (GH) and melatonin belong to the group of growth factors. These substances have been proposed to improve and accelerate osseous healing using topical applications. PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the topical administration of GH and melatonin on osseointegration of dental implants in Beagle dogs 2, 5, and 8 weeks after their insertion. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twelve adult Beagle dogs and 48 implants were used in the study. The maxillary and mandibular premolars and molars were extracted. Each mandible received cylindrical screw implants of 3.25 mm in diameter and 10 mm in length. Prior to implanting, 4 IU of recombinant human GH and 1.2 mg of lyophilized powdered melatonin was applied to one osteotomy at each side of the mandible. None was applied at the control sites. The implants were retrieved at 2, 5, and 8 weeks for light microscopic examination, energy-dispersive x-ray microanalysis, and histomorphometric measurements in ground sections. RESULTS: At week 2, BIC was significantly higher in the melatonin-growth hormone group than in the implant control one (34.20 vs 25.05%; p = .010). The M-GH group also increased significantly the peri-implant bone area (64.72 vs 53.20%; p = .038) and interthread bone area (35.62 vs 25.08%; p = .02). At weeks 5 and 8, BIC and bone density around implants were similar to both groups. Significant differences were detected in bone neoformation at 8 weeks in ML-GH group (9.04 vs 7.53%; p = .05). Regarding the mineral composition, in ML-GH group increments in concentrations of phosphorus (10.70 vs 10.34; p = .013) were observed at 2 weeks and of magnesium (0.29 vs 0.25; p = .019) 5 weeks after implantation. CONCLUSION: The present study confirms that GH and melatonin synergistically enhance new bone formation around titanium implants in early stages of healing.

Localized pleural mesothelioma causing cranial vena cava syndrome in a dog.

A 9-year-old female crossbred dog was presented to the Hospital Universitario Veterinario Rof Codina (Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Lugo, Spain) for acute onset of severe, progressive swelling of the head, neck, and cranial trunk. Survey radiographs and ultrasonography revealed a large, heterogeneous mass in the cranial mediastinum, compressing or growing into a large blood vessel within the cranial mediastinum and displacing the heart dorsocaudally. At postmortem examination, the mass was diagnosed as a large, localized mesothelioma. Localized mesotheliomas are rare neoplasms in dogs but should be considered as a possible differential diagnosis for cranial vena cava syndrome. The anatomic distribution and clinical features of mesothelioma in the present report are similar to other cases in humans.

First report of the simultaneous occurrence of choroid plexus papilloma and meningioma in a dog.

A 7-year-old spayed female English Cocker Spaniel was examined because of a 1-week history of lethargy, stumbling over objects and circling, and the presence of two tonic-clonic generalised seizures two days before presentation. The neurological signs suggested a lesion involving the right forebrain. Computed tomography revealed the presence of two intracranial masses, one located inside the right lateral ventricle and the other located in the right frontal lobe attached to the falx cerebri. Because of the poor prognosis, the owner refused to continue with the therapy and the dog was euthanised. On postmortem examination one mass was diagnosed histologically as a meningioma and the other as a papilloma of the choroid plexus. Information in the veterinary literature on multiple malignancies affecting the central nervous system is very limited. To the best of the authors' knowledge, the association of meningioma and choroid plexus papilloma has never been reported either in the human or in the veterinary medical literature.

In vivo evaluation of an injectable Macroporous Calcium Phosphate Cement.

Although Calcium Phosphate Cements (CPC) are highly biocompatible and osteconductive materials, its resorption rate still remains too slow for some applications. In this work the introduction of Macroporosity in an injectable CPC is evaluated as a way to accelerate resorption and to increase bone ingrowth. A Macroporous and a standard CPC were injected just after preparation in a defect drilled in rabbit femur for their in vivo evaluation. The foaming agent used was Albumen, which gave up to a 75% porosity. Sodium Alginate was added to promote the cohesion of the foamed paste after implantation. In the case of the Macroporous Cement, bone growth and neovascularisation was observed inside the pores of the material, not only at the margins of the cement but also in some central pores. After 12 weeks of implantation, the residual material volume of the Macroporous Cement was approximately 35% of the initial value, whereas only the outer layers of non-Macroporous CPC were resorbed, being the residual material volume close to 100%. The higher resorption rate was due to the higher surface contact with body fluids which increased the dissolution rate, and to the enhancement of the cellular activity.