Intracranial Epidermoid Cyst and Syringohydromyelia in a Dog

ABSTRACT. This report describes the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to diagnose cervical syringomyelia in 4 cats. MRI revealed enlargement of the lateral ventricle in all the cats. Of the 4 cases, MRI revealed herniation of the cerebellum in 3 cats, an isolated fourth ventricle in 1 cat, severe hydrocephalus in 2 cats and brain masses in 1 cat. In this report, the cervical syringomyelia in these cats may have been due to formation of a secondary syrinx (enlargement of the central canal) as a result of blockage of flow in the outlet of the fourth ventricle caused by FIP encephalomyelitis or secondary cerebellar tonsillar herniation caused by increased intracranial pressure due to intracranial masses or may have been due to caudal compression of the cerebellum caused by increased intracranial pressure due to hydrocephalus.KEY WORDS: feline, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), syringomyelia.

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confidence: 99%

MRI of Secondary Cervical Syringomyelia in Four Cats

Okada

Kitagawa

Ito

et al. 2009

“…70 (7): [727][728][729][730] 2008 Space occupying intracranial mass is one of the most important causes of neurological signs in cattle. Abscess, tumor, hydrocephaly and/or intracranial cyst are the main differential diagnosis [3,9,17]. Physical examination, biochemical analysis, neurology, and imaging were the main methods of diagnosis [2,3,16,18].…”

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confidence: 99%

“…In human, simple Echinococus granulosus cysts were welldefined, smooth thin-walled, spherical, homogeneous cystic lesions with no contrast enhancement, however, complicated one showed cystic lesions with surrounding hyperintensity of perifocal edema with complete or incomplete rim enhancement [4]. Moreover, in a dog with intracranial epidermoid cyst, CT scan showed large, hypoattenuating mass with a slight peripheral ring enhancement pattern ventral to the cerebellum [9]. The present results reflected a relationship between the CT images and physical signs.…”

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confidence: 99%

Brain Abscess in a Japanese Black Calf: Utility of Computed Tomography (CT)

El-Khodery

Yamada

Aoki

et al. 2008

ABSTRACT. Computed tomography (CT) was used for diagnosis of brain abscess in a 6-month-old, Japanese black calf presented with neurological dysfunction, compulsive circling and vision disturbance. CT images showed asymmetric lateral ventricles, and presence of intra-cranial multiple low absorption lesions surrounded by capsule suggestive of abscess in the right cerebral hemisphere. Postmortem examination revealed marked swelling of right cerebral hemisphere and olfactory bulb. Multilocular large abscess containing creamy pus was found to occupy most area of periventricular and lateral ventricle. Fusobacterium necrophrum was isolated from the abscess contents as the causative agent. These results demonstrate that CT is useful tool for tentative diagnosis of bovine brain abscess. KEY WORDS: bovine, brain abscess, CT.J. Vet. Med. Sci. 70 (7): [727][728][729][730] 2008 Space occupying intracranial mass is one of the most important causes of neurological signs in cattle. Abscess, tumor, hydrocephaly and/or intracranial cyst are the main differential diagnosis [3,9,17]. Physical examination, biochemical analysis, neurology, and imaging were the main methods of diagnosis [2,3,16,18]. However, these methods are not definitive, and it is difficult to decide the final diagnosis and the prognosis. Computed Tomography (CT) was introduced for diagnosis of intracranial abscess and tumor in goats [6,10]. In human medicine, CT has made an important impact on the diagnosis of brain abscess due to high sensitivity and accuracy [1]. The possibility of using CT to diagnose bovine brain diseases may become one of the most useful diagnostic tools which are so in human medicine, as CT shows good contrast and screens the intended organ at different planes. In the present case, adjunct to the conventional methods, CT was used to recognize its usefulness for tentative diagnosis of the brain abscess.A 6-month-old female Japanese black calf with 190 kg body weight was presented at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital of Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine for investigation of nervous manifestations, circling, abnormal gait and vision disturbance. The signs appeared one month before admission, and the calf was treated by Vitamin B1 at 500 mg intramuscularly for three days. On the first examination, the calf was dull, anorexic, and dehydrated. Rectal temperature, pulse rate and heart beats were within normal range. Circling to the left side, stiffness in gait and vision disturbance were the main clinical signs. Hematological examination showed polyc y t h e m i a , h e m o c o n c e n t r a t i o n ( P C V 4 2 % ) a n d thrombocytosis (736,000/µl), but total leukocytes was within normal range (7,200/µl). Serum biochemical analysis showed low level of vitamin A (55.8 IU/dl) and vitamin E (0.06 mg/dl), however, there were elevation of AST (216 IU/l) and selenium (9.1 µg/dl). Arterial blood gases analysis showed hypoxemia (PO 2 =50 mmhg), hypernatremia (177 mmol/l), and mild hyperkalemia (3.8 mmol/l). The calf did not resp...

“…A canine report describing a medullary dermoid cyst was presented in 1998 [29]. To our knowledge, there are no reports describing canine brainstem epidermoid cysts or IAC at this time [20]. Although a definitive diagnosis of IAC is only possible with histopathology, IAC can be differentiated from dermoid and epidermoid cysts by MRI with FLAIR sequences.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…But FLAIR may assist in the differentiation of the type of the cyst due to the different signal according to the contents. IACs which contain CSF have significantly suppressed signals, whereas epidermoid cysts are filled with protein and keratin, and display higher signals than CSF on FLAIR images based on the results previously described [8,9,20,25,27].…”

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confidence: 99%

Unilateral Facial Paresis Secondary to a Suspected Brainstem Arachnoid Cyst in a Maltese Dog

Kim

Jung

Kang

et al. 2011

ABSTRACT. An 8-year-old, intact female Maltese dog was presented with decreased tear production and unilateral loss of eye blinking. Neuro-ophthalmic examination and brain magnetic resonance imaging were performed to determine the origin of facial paresis. A cystic lesion in the left pontomedullary region which displayed equal intensity to cerebrospinal fluid was revealed. Hyposignality was noted on fluid attenuated inversion recovery sequences, and the lesion was suggestive of an arachnoid cyst. This report described unilateral facial nerve dysfunction that resulted from a suspected brainstem arachnoid cyst in an unusual anatomic location.KEY WORDS: arachnoid cysts, brainstem, canine, facial paresis.J. Vet. Med. Sci. 73(4): 459-462, 2011 Facial paresis and paralysis result in facial muscle dysfunction from cranial nerve diseases and injuries [26]. Intracranial and brainstem abnormalities including congenital and neoplastic space-occupying lesions can result in facial nerve dysfunction, which are classified as central in origin. Additionally, parasympathetic denervation to the lacrimal pathway of the facial nerve can also result in loss of tear production. Intracranial cysts are likely developmental in origin and can develop in cerebrum, cerebellum, and brainstem thus may cause cranial nerve dysfunction in human and dogs as well [5,21,29,31]. However, intracranial cysts located in the brainstem are extremely rare in both human and dogs [8,18,21,23,28,31,32]. We described a case of unilateral facial paresis concurrent with lacrimal loss, which was strongly suspected to be caused by a pontomedullary cystic lesion.An 8-year-old, intact female Maltese dog was admitted for evaluation of a unilateral blinking disorder. The patient had been diagnosed as keratoconjunctivitis sicca (KCS) by the referring animal hospital. Topical therapy for KCS including artificial tear, topical antibiotics and cyclosporine showed no improvement. Moreover, sudden onset of blepharoplegia of the left eye (OS) was detected a few days before visiting our referral hospital.The outer appearance of the face was symmetrical. However, the left nostril was drier and more narrowed than the right nostril (Fig. 1A). Marked blepharoedema and mild mucoid ocular discharge were observed bilaterally ( . A neuro-ophthalmic examination revealed a loss of palpebral and corneal reflexes (OS) and the menace response (OS). Direct and consensual pupillary light responses (PLR) and the results of other bilateral cranial nerve tests were normal. The patient was tentatively diagnosed as unilateral facial paresis. As the course of clinical signs was slow and progressive, the presence of primary cause of facial paresis was strongly suspected rather than idiopathic facial paresis which typically showed acute onset. Thus laboratory tests were performed to search the cause of KSC and facial paresis. Otoscopic examination and skull radiography showed no evidence of otitis. The results of routine laboratory test were not remarkable. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase cha...