Hydromyelia in a Japanese Black calf

Abstract

A Japanese Black calf, manifested by clinical signs of inability to stand and extending hind limbs after birth, was investigated clinically and pathologically. In the neurological inspection, gastrocnemius reflex and patellar tendon reflex of the right hind limb were hyperactive, and gastrocnemius reflex and crossed extension reflex of the left hind limb were also hyperactive. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examination showed a cavity in the cord at the area of the third and fourth lumbar vertebrae in T2-weighted imaging. After the calf was euthanized, necropsy confirmed the swelling of the spinal cord at the third and fourth lumbar vertebrae. The histopathological examination confirmed that the central canal remained open, and the inner surface of central canal was lined with ependymal cells. Therefore, this calf was diagnosed to have hydromyelia of the lumbar cord. This study indicated that MRI was useful for diagnosing myelodysplasia such as hydoromyelia. This is the first report of hydoromyelia in Japanese Black calf.

Congenital syringohydromyelia in a crossbred (Holstein-Friesian × Japanese Black) beef calf

“…Syringohydromyelia is a condition in which the central canal is abnormally dilated and the cavity is partly lined by ependymal cells [1,19]. In previous reports, myelodysplasia including syringohydromyelia was suspected based on ultrasonography, computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and autopsy findings in calves, and eventually diagnosed by histopathological inspection [4,16,21]. Clinical signs of congenital myelodysplasia in cattle include recumbency, inability to stand, and ataxia, which are usually non-progressive.…”

“…Therefore, syringohydromyelia is used as an umbrella term of hydromyelia and syringomyelia [1,19]. Hydromyelia, syringomyelia, and syringohydromyelia frequently occur together with skeletal deformities [6,13], arthrogryposis [9], Arnold-Chiari malformations [3], and other myelodysplasias such as diplomyelia, diastematomyelia, hypoplasia, and aplasia [4,7,8,10,11,13,[15][16][17][21][22][23]. Hydromyelia, syringomyelia, and syringohydromyelia have previously been reported in Holstein, Japanese Black, Charolais, Brown Swiss, Tudanca, Simmental, and Brahman-crossed calves [1, 2, 4, 7-11, 15-17, 21].…”

“…In addition to MRI scans [7,13,16,23], ultrasonographic diagnosis of syringohydromyelia, diplomyelia, and hypoplasia from intervertebral spaces have been reported [21,22]. We attempted to initially diagnose the calf by ultrasonography prior to CT and MRI scans.…”

“…However, we failed to make a diagnosis because we examined the L6-S1 intervertebral spaces, rather than the affected L3-L4 spinal segments. MRI scans are the gold standard for diagnosing cerebral and spinal diseases and are reportedly useful for diagnosing syringohydromyelia and diplomyelia while calves are still alive [7,16,24].…”