Acute Polyradiculoneuritis in a Mixed Breed Dog

A 3-year-old castrated male mixed breed dog presented to the Cornell University Hospital for Animals Emergency Service on August 3rd, 2013 with a 5-day history of acute ascending tetraparesis. On July 28th, the patient was ataxic in the pelvic limbs after playing with other dogs. The following morning he appeared weak in all limbs, then collapsed and was subsequently unable to stand. The patient was presented to his primary veterinarian that day, and physical exam revealed non-ambulatory tetraparesis with absent proprioception and motor in all 4 limbs. No discomfort was elicited on spinal palpation. A 4DX snap test was positive for Lyme disease and Ehrlichia. In-house blood work, thoracic radiographs, and cervical spinal radiographs were unremarkable. The patient was hospitalized overnight at the primary veterinarian’s office and was started on doxycycline and a short tapering course of prednisolone. His neurologic status remained static, however he was eating and drinking well on his own and thus was discharged to the owner's care on July 30th. Following discharge, the patient remained non-ambulatory and recumbent at home with no appreciable change in his neurologic status. The patient then became reluctant to eat or drink, at which point he was referred to Cornell for further evaluation

A Subset of Dogs with Presumptive Idiopathic Epilepsy Show Hippocampal Asymmetry: A Volumetric Comparison with Non-Epileptic Dogs Using MRI

MRI-acquired volumetric measurements from 100 dogs with presumptive idiopathic epilepsy (IE) and 41 non-epileptic (non-IE) dogs were used to determine if hippocampal asymmetry exists in the IE as compared to the non-IE dogs. MRI databases from three institutions were searched for dogs that underwent MRI of the brain and were determined to have IE and those that were considered non-IE dogs. Volumes of the right and left hippocampi were measured using Mimics® software. Median hippocampal volumes of IE and non-IE dogs were 0.47 and 0.53 cm3, respectively. There was no significant difference in overall hippocampal volume between IE and non-IE dogs; however, IE dogs had greater hippocampal asymmetry than non-IE dogs (P < 0.012). A threshold value of 1.16 from the hippocampal ratio had an 85% specificity for identifying IE-associated asymmetry. Thirty five percent of IE dogs had a hippocampal ratio >1.16. Asymmetry was not associated with any particular hemisphere (P = 0.67). Our study indicates that hippocampal asymmetry occurs in a subset of dogs with presumptive idiopathic/genetic epilepsy, suggesting a structural etiology to some cases of IE