MRI FINDINGS OF THE CERVICAL SPINE IN 3 BEAGLE DOGS

Degenerative disc disease is a condition of the spine caused by dehydration and degeneration of intervertebral discs being an inevitable process with increasing age of the animals. These changes can lead to clinical and pathological diseases characterized differently, such as Hansen type II (protrusion) and Hansen type I (extrusion) disc disease. Medical records of three Beagle dogs, aged 3-8 years, who were presented in the clinic of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest with neurological features, were reviewed. Animals were evaluated by radiographic and MRI imaging. Radiographic examination was conducted in lateral incidence at the level of cervical segment. MRI images were obtained with a low field magnetic resonance of 0.3 Tesla, through: T1 SE (spin echo), T2 FSE (fast spin echo) and T1 sequences after the administration of contrast agent, dogs were positioned in lateral decubitus under inhalatory anesthesia.Radiographic examination revealed narrowing of the intervertebral space in two cases, at the level of C2C3. MRI examination revealed intervertebral disc degeneration and dehydration at a total number of eight discs in the cervical segment from all three cases. Hansen type II (protrusion) compression on the spinal cord has been registered in one case at C3-C4 level, and in two cases was detected Hansen type I (extrusion) at C2-C3 level, with the movement of the disc fragments in the spine, confirmed by radiographic examination. Magnetic resonance imaging has provided a useful, safe, non-invasive evaluation of the cervical spinal cord.