Department of Small Animal Clinical Science, Joint Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Yamaguchi University, Yamaguchi City, Yamaguchi, Japan.
Department of Veterinary Surgery, Joint Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Yamaguchi University, Yamaguchi City, Yamaguchi, Japan.
PLoS One. 2024 Feb 7;19(2):e0293363. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0293363. eCollection 2024.
Atlanto-axial instability is a common disease that affects toy-breed dogs. Most cases of atlanto-axial instability are congenital. Furthermore, patients with atlanto-axial instability are predisposed to other concurrent diseases. Therefore, this study aimed to retrospectively determine the presence of concurrent diseases in cases with atlanto-axial instability using imaging data and analyze the relationship between clinical parameters and the incidence of complex malformations. The clinical data and imaging findings of 41 toy-breed dogs diagnosed with atlanto-axial instability were analyzed using their medical records and imaging data. Occipital dysplasia (17/27), atlanto-occipital overlapping (22/34), dens dysplasia (27/41), Chiari-like malformation (8/34), syringomyelia (5/34), lateral ventricular enlargement (20/36), and intracranial arachnoid cyst (5/35) were observed in patients with atlanto-axial instability. The body weight of the patients in the groups with atlanto-occipital overlapping and lateral ventricular enlargement was lower than that of those in the groups without these diseases (1.78 ± 0.71 vs 2.71 ± 1.15 kg, P = 0.0269, 1.60 ± 0.40 vs 2.75 ± 1.08 kg, P = 0.001, respectively). Furthermore, when the correlation between the total number of concurrent diseases and the age at onset and body weight was examined, it became clear that lower body weight was associated with the incidence of a greater number of concurrent diseases. Thus, the findings of this study suggest that toy-breed dogs are more likely to present with complex malformations and should be evaluated carefully with additional examinations and treatment methods.
寰枢关节不稳定是一种常见的疾病，影响玩具品种的狗。大多数寰枢关节不稳定的病例是先天性的。此外，患有寰枢关节不稳定的患者易患其他并发疾病。因此，本研究旨在通过影像学数据回顾性确定寰枢关节不稳定病例中并发疾病的存在，并分析临床参数与复杂畸形发生率之间的关系。使用病历和影像学数据分析了 41 只被诊断为寰枢关节不稳定的玩具品种犬的临床数据和影像学发现。寰枕发育不良（17/27）、寰枕重叠（22/34）、齿状突发育不良（27/41）、类 Chiari 畸形（8/34）、脊髓空洞症（5/34）、侧脑室扩大（20/36）和颅内蛛网膜囊肿（5/35）在寰枢关节不稳定的患者中观察到。寰枕重叠和侧脑室扩大组的患者体重低于无这些疾病组的患者（1.78 ± 0.71 与 2.71 ± 1.15 kg，P = 0.0269，1.60 ± 0.40 与 2.75 ± 1.08 kg，P = 0.001）。此外，当检查总并发疾病数量与发病年龄和体重之间的相关性时，体重越低与并发疾病数量增加的相关性变得明显。因此，本研究的结果表明，玩具品种犬更有可能出现复杂畸形，应通过额外的检查和治疗方法进行仔细评估。
