The veterinary journal
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The veterinary journal · Oct 2013
Correlations between severity of clinical signs and histopathological changes in 60 dogs with spinal cord injury associated with acute thoracolumbar intervertebral disc disease.
The outcome of spinal surgery in dogs with absent voluntary motor function and nociception following intervertebral disc (IVD) herniation is highly variable, which likely attests to differences in the severity of spinal cord damage. This retrospective study evaluated the extent to which neurological signs correlated with histologically detected spinal cord damage in 60 dogs that were euthanased because of thoracolumbar IVD herniation. ⋯ The duration of clinical signs, Schiff-Sherrington posture, loss of reflexes and pain on spinal palpation were not significantly associated with the severity of spinal cord damage. Although clinical-pathological correlation was generally good, some clinical signs frequently thought to indicate severe cord injury did not always correlate with the degree of cord damage, suggesting functional rather than structural impairment in some cases.
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The veterinary journal · Oct 2013
Incidence of intraoperative hypotension during isoflurane-fentanyl and propofol-fentanyl anaesthesia in dogs.
Most anaesthetic and analgesic drugs affect the cardiovascular system and can cause intraoperative hypotension (IOH). This study aimed to compare the incidence of IOH in anaesthetised dogs when isoflurane-fentanyl was used, compared to propofol-fentanyl. ⋯ The adjusted odds ratio for IOH when propofol-fentanyl was compared to isoflurane-fentanyl was 0.2 (95% CI 0.11-0.38). These results suggest that propofol-fentanyl is associated with a lower risk of IOH than isoflurane-fentanyl anaesthesia.