Proceedings 31st Symposium ESVN-ECVN

Radiography and computed tomography of the cervical vertebral column revealed a collapse of the seventh vertebral body, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed extradural well demarcated heterogeneous space‐occupying material in the ventral and right‐sided aspect of the vertebral canal severely compressing and dislocating the spinal cord. A diskospondylitis was suspected as underlying cause of the lesion. Post‐mortem examination identified a chronic abscess of the seventh cervical vertebral body with subsequent pathological fracture and compression of the spinal cord with associated meningitis and neuritis. In the microbiological analysis, Actinobacillus (A.) pleuropneumoniae was demonstrated using PCR and DNA sequence analysis.