Contribuições cirúrgicas nas afecções traumáticas da medula espinhal e da cauda equina em cães

Abstract

The veterinary literature is scarce of studies showing the series of traumatic disorders of the spinal cord and of the cauda equina. In front of this, the aim of this study was: to conduct a survey of cases of fractures and vertebral luxation that affected dogs assisted in the service of Neurology of a Higher Education institution from 2007 to 2018, with the intention of elucidating the main etiology of trauma, as well as the prognosis of functional recovery after surgical or conservative treatment (article 1). A prospective study was also accomplished of spinal cord surgical procedures with dogs showing the main complications on the trans-operative and post-operative , immediate and late (article 2). In the first article, 109 dogs with trauma on the spinal cord and cauda equina were chosen, secondary to extrinsic factors, having as the main cause the road traffic accidents. Among these patients, it has been possible to have telephone contact with 41 tutors, in which 21 out of them have gone through surgical stabilization, and 20 patients which have gone through conservative treatment. In the second article, a prospective study was conducted with the ere has been the inclusion of 34 dogs with the clinical hospital routine with spinal injuries that have performed surgical procedure of decompression or stabilization of the spine. In 76.47 % of the patients, it has been observed at least one complication in some of the stages of the evaluation, being the main ones: intra-operative bleeding, seroma in the immediate post-and urinary infection in the late post-operative. The contribution of the analysis of these two studies is that the traumatic injury of spinal cord causes damages that can be irreversible. Therefore, it is interesting that there are more and more researches in this field of study, in order to assist the veterinary and patients who suffer this kind of injury.