S. Nakama et al., A RETROSPECTIVE STUDY OF VENTRAL FENESTRATION FOR DISK DISEASES IN DOGS, Journal of veterinary medical science, 55(5), 1993, pp. 781-784
Sixty-six dogs suffering from intervertebral disk diseases on cervical
and/or thoracolumbar disks were treated by a ventral fenestration. Th
e breeds affected with disk diseases were Dachshund (65.1%), Beagle (1
5.2%), Shih Tsu (4.5%), Pekingese (4.5%), and others (18.2%). Sites su
ffered from disk diseases and received disk fenestration most frequent
ly were from T10-11 to L2-3. However, other disks were also needed the
operation in some cases. An average number of disks received fenestra
tion was 6.0. Days to walk after the fenestration in 51 cases varied 1
to 120 days (average: 14.9+/-22.0 days, xBAR+/-S.D.) depending on the
ir severity. The recovery rates from the follow-up study were as follo
ws: In grade I (3 cases, able to walk with back pain) and grade II (14
cases, slight ataxia and paresis) it was 100%, respectively. The rate
s in grade III (23 cases, paraplegia with positive deep pain) and grad
e IV (26 cases, paraplegia with lack of deep pain) were 73.9% and 65.4
%, respectively. A few recurrence after the operation were observed in
this study. As a result, the ventral fenestration was extremely effec
tive as a treatment for disk diseases in the dog.