Feline ischaemic myelopathy with a predilection for the cranial cervical spinal cord in older cats.

All previous studies on feline ischaemic myelopathy (IM) have reported an acute onset of a single event with no recurrence of clinical signs. This study aimed to evaluate clinical and long-term follow-up data in cats presumptively diagnosed with cervical IM in the territory of the ventral spinal artery (VSA). Eight cats (four females and four males) were included with a mean age of 14 years and 2 months. Neurological status at the time of presentation ranged from ambulatory tetraparesis to tetraplegia with nociception present. Six cats had marked cervical ventroflexion. All eight cats were diagnosed with one or more concurrent medical conditions, including chronic kidney disease (n = 2), hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (n = 2) and hypertension (n = 6). Median time to ambulation was 5.7 days (range 2-14 days). Long-term follow-up ranged from 7 months to 3 years and 3 months (median 1 year and 2 months). Five cats had no reported recurrence of clinical signs and 3/8 had a chronic relapsing disease course. One cat had an acute recurrence of clinical signs 4 months after the first event and was euthanased. Two cats had acute onsets of suspected intracranial infarctions, one of which had further suspected intracranial infarcts every 3 months and was euthanased after one of these. This study highlights the importance of performing ancillary diagnostic tests in older cats presenting with IM, particularly when VSA embolisation is suspected.

Imaging diagnosis--Spontaneous subperiosteal vertebral hemorrhage in a greyhound.

A 4-year-old, spayed female greyhound dog was presented with an acute onset of paraplegia. There was no known history of trauma or coagulopathy. Spinal cord compression was identified on MRI. Intra-operative evaluation revealed the presence of a large subperiosteal hematoma and a smaller epidural hematoma. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first report of a spinal subperiosteal hematoma diagnosed antemortem through MRI, with surgical exploration and successful treatment in a dog.

Clinical outcome in 19 cats with clinical and magnetic resonance imaging diagnosis of ischaemic myelopathy (2000-2011).

Previous publications on ischaemic myelopathy in cats are limited to single case reports and small case series. The overall prognosis appears poor, with 42% of cats being euthanased. In this study the clinical outcome of 19 cats with a presumptive diagnosis of ischaemic myelopathy [based on clinical and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings] was evaluated retrospectively. The degree of neurological dysfunction at the time of presentation was similar to previously reported cases, ranging from ambulatory paresis to plegia with intact nociception. The most common lesion localisations (based on MRI) were to the C1-C5 (30%) and C6-T2 (30%) spinal cord segments, with the T3-L3 and L4-S1 spinal cord segments accounting for 25% and 15%, respectively. Potential inciting or predisposing causes for development of spinal infarction were identified in 12 cats, including physical exertion, trauma, general anaesthesia, renal disease, hyperthyroidism, hypertension and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The median time to recovery of ambulation was 3.5 days (3-19 days). Four cats (21%) were euthanased within 2 months of diagnosis. The remaining 15 (79%) cats had a favourable outcome. Follow-up ranged from 6 months to 10 years and 4 months, with a median of 3 years and 1 month. Even when plegia was present at the time of presentation, all surviving cats with long-term, owner-derived follow-up were reported to return to a normal quality of life, suggesting that the long-term prognosis for recovery from presumed ischaemic myelopathy is favourable in the majority of cats.