Traumatic spinal cord injury in cats: three years epidemiologic study and late characterization of lesions by computerized tomography imaging analysis

Abstract

Late complications of spinal cord injury in cats are not well known. Current imaging methods allow the acquisition of more detailed information and guide the choice of treatment. We evaluated 22 cats, and in 6, we draw an epidemiological late traumatic lesions in the spinal cord, characterizing by means of computed tomography (CT), its natural evolution. The causes of trauma in the animals evaluated were falling through the window of apartment and car accidents, firearm, and intentional human assault. The location of trauma were: T7 to T11 in three cats, T12 to L2 in 17 cats; L3 to L7 in two cats. By CT we observed the presence of hypoattenuation area surrounding the spinal cord with atrophy in six cats. Compressive lesion was absent in one animal, one was mild, and severe in four others. Fractures in the dorsal and ventral compartments were observed in 50% and 33.34% of cases, respectively. In three animals the lesion was multiple and involved the pedicles and intervertebral discs. Although it was possible to locate and describe the lesions in the bone tissue, the observation and classification of lesions in adjacent soft tissues were unsatisfactory. Few animals survived after trauma to the spinal cord over the three years of observations, thus we indicate the use of other diagnostic tools like magnetic resonance imaging and electroneuromyography to develop more effective therapeutic approaches aiming the increasing of life expectancy with quality of animals with spinal cord injury.