Research Communications of the 24th ECVIM-CA Congress

Eleven dogs referred for monoparesis or paraparesis were recruited. Inclusion criteria were a clinical examination supportive of limb hypoperfusion and availability of blood cell count, biochemical profile and urine analyses. Before MRI examination, peripheral glycaemia was tested. Two blood samples were obtained, one from the affected limbs and one from a healty limb.Plasmatic glycaemia was measured using an automated glucose analyser. All the patients underwent a total body MRI (MRI Intera 1.5T, Philips Medical Systems) that provided the final diagnosis. The arterial thrombosis location was documented and the entity was scored. All the eleven patients were diagnosed with a peripheral thrombosis involving an arterial vessel and in some cases the relative branches. The thrombus was located: in the abdominal aorta (7/11), in the subclavian artery (1/11), in the axillary artery (1/11), in the iliac arteries (2/11). Of the total amount of abdominal aortic thrombosis, 3/7 involved also the internal iliac arteries, 2/7 the external ones and 2/7 both internal and external. The extent of the thrombosis was classified as grade 1 (G1), when the greatest portion of the thrombus did not reach half of the vessel lumen (1/11 patients); grade 2 (G2), when the greatest portion of the thrombus was between 1/2 and 2/3 of the vessel lumen (7/11); grade 3 (G3), when the thrombus exceded 2/3 of the lumen (3/11). A substantial decrease in pheripheral glycaemia values was found in sampling arising from the thrombosisaffected limbs. Comparing thrombosis-affected limbs values with healthy limbs measurements from the same patient, the reduction was found from 17.65% to 34.41%. Accounting only the G3 scored patients, the percentage of reduction was found up to the 28.34% suggesting a proportional decrease related to the grade of occlusion.