Biomechanical evaluation of spinal cord decompression methods in dogs

Abstract

The study is relevant due to the high incidence of spinal cord compression pathologies in dogs requiring surgical intervention, and was carried out with the aim of conducting a biomechanical assessment of spinal cord decompression methods and identifying a decompression technique that has the least destabilizing effect on the thoracolumbar spine. The studies were carried out in 2023-2024. on the basis of the Department of Veterinary Surgery of the Moscow State Academy of Veterinary Medicine and Biotechnology - MBA named after K.I. Scriabin" and the Laboratory for the Development and Testing of Medical Devices and Materials of the Federal State Budgetary Institution "National Medical Research Center for Orthopedics named after. N.N. Priorov" of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. The object of the study was sectional material, namely, samples of the thoracolumbar spine of dogs of chondrodystrophic and non-chondrodystrophic breeds weighing from 3 to 10 kg at the age of 5 to 8 years (20 samples in total). The range of motion of the vertebrae and the force of destruction of the spinal motion segments were determined in the native state and after modeling decompression techniques (hemilaminectomy and mini-hemilaminectomy). During hemilaminectomy, statistically significant changes in the biomechanical characteristics of the thoracolumbar spine were noted compared to mini-hemilaminectomy: an increase in the range of motion of the vertebrae in the area of decompression; increasing the range of motion of the vertebrae in topographically adjacent segments; reduction in the force of destruction of the segment in the area of decompression (changes are more pronounced in dogs of chondrodystrophic breeds). The data obtained by the authors of the article indicate that hemilaminectomy is a more destabilizing technique compared to minihemilaminectomy, and for extrusions in the thoracolumbar spine in dogs, preference should be given to mini-hemilaminectomy.