Proceedings 31st Symposium ESVN-ECVN

A prospective study was conducted in 68 dogs with cervical (13) or thoracolumbar (55) IVD extrusion; medical records, pre‐ and postoperative MRI findings, surgery reports, outcome and recovery time were collected. The agreement between surgeons’ evaluation and postoperative MRI findings regarding the efficacy of spinal decompression was fair. Severe preoperative spinal compression was associated with an increased chance of inadequate decompression. Postoperative MRI findings of adequate spinal decompression were associated with successful outcome and reduced recovery time, while intraoperative evaluation was associated only with recovery time. Intramedullary T2‐weighted hyperintensity in preoperative (17.6%) and postoperative (33.8%) MRI scans was not associated with outcome and recovery time.