Rusbridge C, Carruthers H, Dubé M-P, Holmes M, Jeffery N D
Stone Lion Veterinary Centre, 41 High Street, Wimbledon Village, London SW19 5AU, UK.
J Small Anim Pract. 2007 Aug;48(8):432-6. doi: 10.1111/j.1748-5827.2007.00344.x. Epub 2007 Jun 30.
This study was designed to test the hypothesis that pain associated with syringomyelia in dogs is dependent upon size and involvement of the dorsal part of the spinal cord.
Masked observers determined syrinx dimensions and precise location within the spinal cord on magnetic resonance images of 55 cavalier King Charles spaniels with syringomyelia. After removal of masking, syrinx size and location were compared between the cohorts of dogs that exhibited pain with those that did not.
Maximum syrinx width was the strongest predictor of pain, scratching behaviour and scoliosis in dogs with syringomyelia. Both pain and syrinx size were positively correlated with syrinxes located in the dorsal half of the spinal cord.
Large syrinxes associated with damage to the dorsal part of the spinal cord are associated with persistent pain suggesting that the pain behaviour expressed by this group of patients is likely to be "neuropathic pain," resulting from disordered neural processing in the damaged dorsal horn. As such it is likely that conventional analgesic medication may be ineffective.
本研究旨在验证以下假设，即犬脊髓空洞症相关疼痛取决于脊髓背侧部分的大小和受累情况。
在55只患有脊髓空洞症的骑士查理王小猎犬的磁共振图像上，由不知情的观察者确定空洞尺寸及在脊髓内的精确位置。去除遮蔽后，比较有疼痛表现的犬组和无疼痛表现的犬组之间的空洞大小和位置。
最大空洞宽度是脊髓空洞症患犬疼痛、抓挠行为和脊柱侧弯的最强预测指标。疼痛和空洞大小均与位于脊髓背侧半部的空洞呈正相关。
与脊髓背侧部分损伤相关的大空洞与持续性疼痛有关，这表明该组患者所表现出的疼痛行为可能是“神经性疼痛”，由受损背角神经处理紊乱所致。因此，传统镇痛药物可能无效。
