Ventral Slot Surgery for Management of Ganglioneuroma and IVDD in a Cat

Abstract

A Shorthair castrated 8-year-old tomcat was brought to a veterinary hospital for slowly progressive onset of tetraplegia developing within last 14 days. The clinical and blood examinations at admission showed no abnormalities, the neurological examination showed severe cervical pain and tetraplegia with lower motor neuron deficits on thoracic limbs and normal withdrawal with increased patellar reflexes on pelvic limbs. Deep pain perception was present on all four limbs. The neuroanatomic localisation was C6-T2 lesion. Magnetic resonance imaging of the cervical spine demonstrated severe spondylosis deformans, degeneration of multiple IVD, and ventral extradural right sided spinal cord compression at the level C7-T1. Mildly hyperintense on T2-weighted and STIR, mildly hypointense on T1-weighted pre-contrast, and homogeneously contrast-enhancing mass on T1-weighted post-contrast images was observed at this area.

Keywords

• cervical discs
• outcome
• small animals
• spinal surgery
• tumor