The mass of disc material is pushing the myelographic contrast agent (black arrowheads) and the spinal cord upwards and will cause severe pain and weakness.Ĭomplications of Myelography. The dye then outlines the spinal cord and identifies any structure deforming it, such as a disc herniation (see Figure 18-4).įigure 18-4: Myelogram in a dog with a large disc extrusion in the neck (white arrow). Myelograms are shown in the images below and also in Wobbler Syndrome.įigure 18-3: The dye is introduced using a needle as shown above. Myelography is a technique where an X-ray is taken after a contrast agent (a type of dye with similar properties to barium) is injected into the fluid (known as CSF) that surrounds the spinal cord. There has been marked destruction of bone (black arrows) and the normal plate of bone adjacent to the disc has been destroyed (white arrow). They are not very useful for identifying disc herniations as it is often very hard to see the exact position of disc material clearly.įigure 18-2: X-ray of a dog with a bacterial infection of the disc space at the lumbosacral junction. Their main value is to identify fractures of the spine as well as tumors and infections that destroy bone. Spinal X-rays remain an important diagnostic tool in veterinary neurology. X-rays are nevertheless very useful in certain conditions, such as discospondylitis (Figure 18-2). Either a dye has to be used to outline the spinal cord (see Figure 18-1) or advanced imaging studies need to be done using either a CT scan (Figure 18-5) or an MRI (Figures 18-7, 19-1). The brain and spinal cord are buried deep within your pet’s body and unfortunately they do not show up at all on an X-ray. The contrast can also be seen as a white line at the top and bottom of the spinal cord (white arrows). The tumors displace the myelographic contrast agent that is mixed with spinal fluid (CSF) and so appear as dark masses surrounded by a white halo of contrast. Figure 18-1: Dog with multiple spinal cord tumors (black arrowheads) outlined by myelography.
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