Abstract: Background: Acute intervertebral disc herniation (IVDH) may cause lasting neurological deficits without immediate diagnosis and treatment. However, advanced spinal imaging (anesthesia) and surgery present additional health risks. Thoracic radiography is often utilized in anesthetic risk assessment and guide clinician and client decision making in presumed IVDH cases (pIVDH), but even negative findings may not supersede the importance of emergent treatment.
Hypothesis/Objectives: This study’s objective was to evaluate the utility of thoracic radiography in decision making in pIVDH cases. Our null hypothesis was that treatment plans for pIVDH dogs would not change due to thoracic radiograph findings.
Animals: 105 client-owned dogs with pIVDH.
Methods: Medical records from 105 consecutive pIVDH dogs presented to the neurology service at a referral hospital were evaluated. Signalment, physical and radiographic examination notes, client communications, and treatment plans were recorded. Fisher’s exact tests were used to test for associations of having a thoracic pathology with treatment plan changing. Logistic regressions were used to estimate odds-ratios and test for the effects of breed, age, and weight on having radiographic thoracic pathology. Significance was set at 0.05.
Results: Radiographic diagnosis of thoracic pathology was associated with alteration of treatment plans (p=0.014). The odds of a radiographic thoracic pathology were 4.6x (OR(95%CI)=4.6 (1.4-17), p=0.026) higher if the dog was aged 12 years or older.
Conclusions and clinical importance: We reject our null hypothesis. Performing routine thoracic radiography prior to advanced spinal imaging in pIVDH cases, especially in dogs 12 years of age or older, may influence the recommended treatment plan.
