Análise do líquido cérebro-espinhal em cães e gatos com afecções neurológicas / Cerebrospinal fluid analysis in dogs and cats with neurological diseases

ABSTRACT

Background: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis is of great importance for evaluation of patients with central nervoussystem problems, because it helps to confirm or exclude many diseases when evaluated together with other relevant clinical and ancillary laboratory tests. As there are few studies in Brazil describing results of CSF analysis in dogs and cats,the objective of the present study was to evaluate results of CSF analysis in a period of ten years, grouping the changesobserved, mainly total and differential cell count and total protein concentration, according to the following etiologicalcategories of diseases inflammatory, degenerative, traumatic, neoplastic and vascular disorders.Materials, Methods & Results: Medical records of dogs and cats with neurological diseases that had CSF collected andanalyzed at a Veterinary Teaching Hospital between 2008 and 2017 were retrospectively reviewed. Patient data includedbreed, sex, body weight, age at presentation, findings of clinical and neurological examination, results of CSF analysis,diagnostic imaging and other laboratory tests results including PCR and serologies for infectious diseases. A total of 245CSF exams were studied (240 dogs and five cats). The established normal range for protein concentration was less than25 mg/dL for cisternal collection and less than 45 mg/dL for lumbar puncture. Total nucleated cell count was considerednormal when less than 5 cells/µL, with a predominance of mononuclear cells. Both pleocytosis and increased concentrationof the protein level were classified as discrete, moderate and marked, and the pleocytosis was further classified as mononuclear, neutrophilic and mixed cell pleocytosis. The information obtained was analyzed in relation to the neurologicalsyndromes and etiological categories of neurological...