Case Study

CT – Shoulder Laxity and Moderate Osteoarthritis with Chondroid Disc Degeneration in a 9 year old FS Dachshund dog

History of sudden onset lameness approximately 7/23/15 after falling off steps. She stopped using the right front on 7/25/15 altogether.

Physical Exam: Alert and responsive. Normal heart and lung auscultation, no pain noted on abdominal palpation and normal lymph nodes. There is normal placing but the gait is showing no shoulder movement and circumduction on gait. Both shoulders were subluxated and replaced in the exam room; this gave dog much more mobility. The left thoracic limb was looser after replacement and withdrawal was present. Some pain at the right bicipital tendon insertion which disappeared with massage and range of motion. Withdrawal was noted after a few tries. No neck pain.

Image Interpretation

CT of the cervical and thoracic spine, plain series – There was a status after right-sided hemilaminectomy T11/12 and T12/13.
Multiple intervertebral discs showed varying degrees of mineralization as an
expression of chondroid degeneration.
There were small localized lytic areas with short transition zones within similar
locations of multiple vertebral bodies.
A site of significant myelocompression was not detected.
Both shoulder joints were in articulation, the joint spaces were even in width and
narrow. There was focal sclerosis noted on the right humeral head in the region of the
medial glenohumeral attachment and labrum. A moderate osteophyte formation was
present at the periarticular margins.

DX

There were indirect signs of right-sided shoulder joint laxity and moderate osteoarthrosis. The multifocal localized vertebral body osteolysis does not exhibit aggressive features and likely is a function of age related degeneration. Multiple myeloma is a potential differential here, but very unlikely since the changes are restricted to the vertebral Samantha bodies. No lytic areas were seen in any other typical manifestation site such as the ribs and vertebral arches. There was generalized chondroid disc degeneration.

Outcome

A compressive myelopathy was not detected. A traumatic/low volume-high velocity
extrusion cannot be ruled out. Should the clinical signs suggest myelocompression
at any point, an MRI should be enforced ideally. Myelo-CT would be an alternative
option to rule out myelocompressive disease with higher accuracy.