Royal Veterinary College, University of London, Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, Hawkshead Lane, North Mymms AL97TA, UK.
BMC Vet Res. 2012 Jul 28;8:126. doi: 10.1186/1746-6148-8-126.
Disk-associated cervical spondylomyelopathy (DA-CSM) is a multifactorial neurological disorder in which progressive caudal cervical spinal cord compression is mainly caused by one or more intervertebral disk protrusions. The Doberman pinscher breed seems predisposed for this condition. The underlying cause and pathophysiology of DA-CSM are currently unknown. Recently, wider intervertebral disks have been put forward as a risk factor for development of clinically relevant DA-CSM. However, little is known about other factors affecting intervertebral disk width. Therefore the aim of this study was to assess the association between intervertebral disk width, measured on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and clinical status, age, gender and intervertebral disk location in dogs with and without clinical signs of DA-CSM.
Doberman pinschers with clinical signs of DA-CSM (N=17),clinically normal Doberman pinschers (N=20), and clinically normal English Foxhounds (N=17), underwent MRI of the cervical vertebral column. On sagittal T2-weighted images, intervertebral disk width was measured from C2-C3 to C6-C7. Intra -and interobserver agreement were assessed on a subset of 20 of the 54 imaging studies.
Intervertebral disk width was not significantly different between Doberman pinschers with clinical signs of DA-CSM, clinically normal Doberman pinschers or clinically normal English Foxhounds (p=0.43). Intervertebral disk width was positively associated with increasing age (p=0.029). Each monthly increase in age resulted in an increase of disk width by 0.0057 mm. Intervertebral disk width was not significantly affected by gender (p=0.056), but was significantly influenced by intervertebral disk location (p <0.0001). The assessed measurements were associated with a good intra -and interobserver agreement.
The present study does not provide evidence that wider intervertebral disks are associated with clinical status in dogs with and without DA-CSM. Instead, it seems that cervical intervertebral disk width in dogs is positively associated with increase in age.
椎间盘相关颈脊髓病（DA-CSM）是一种多因素的神经紊乱疾病，其中进行性尾侧颈脊髓压迫主要由一个或多个椎间盘突出引起。杜宾犬似乎易患这种疾病。DA-CSM 的根本原因和病理生理学目前尚不清楚。最近，更宽的椎间盘被提出是发展为有临床意义的 DA-CSM 的危险因素。然而，对于影响椎间盘宽度的其他因素知之甚少。因此，本研究旨在评估 MRI 测量的椎间盘宽度与有和无 DA-CSM 临床症状的犬的临床状态、年龄、性别和椎间盘位置之间的关系。
患有 DA-CSM 临床症状的杜宾犬（N=17）、临床正常的杜宾犬（N=20）和临床正常的英国猎狐犬（N=17）接受了颈椎 MRI 检查。在矢状 T2 加权图像上，从 C2-C3 到 C6-C7 测量椎间盘宽度。在 54 项影像学研究的 20 项研究中评估了观察者内和观察者间的一致性。
有临床症状的 DA-CSM 杜宾犬、临床正常的杜宾犬或临床正常的英国猎狐犬之间的椎间盘宽度无显著差异（p=0.43）。椎间盘宽度与年龄的增加呈正相关（p=0.029）。年龄每月增加 1 岁，椎间盘宽度增加 0.0057 毫米。椎间盘宽度不受性别影响（p=0.056），但受椎间盘位置影响显著（p<0.0001）。评估的测量值具有良好的观察者内和观察者间一致性。
本研究没有证据表明更宽的椎间盘与有和无 DA-CSM 的犬的临床状态相关。相反，似乎犬颈椎间盘的宽度与年龄的增加呈正相关。
