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Menace reaction was bilaterally absent and there was bilateral nasal analgesia along with a loss of nociception in all limbs ( Fig. Withdrawal reflexes were absent in all four limbs as were the patellar reflexes on both sides. If the patient was manually sustained, flaccid tetraplegia and neck ventroflexion were evident. Physical and neurological examination revealed bradycardia (60 bpm), lateral recumbency and severe depression. A few minutes later the dog regained some awareness, but was unable to stand and appeared poorly responsive to environmental stimuli. A witness present during the accident reported that the dog was frightened by a hair dryer, and in an attempt to get out from his collar he made vigorous jolting movements with his head and then collapsed as if he was dead. Moreover, a brief review of the terminology adopted in veterinary medicine, in comparison with the human medical literature, is provided.Ī nine-month-old, intact male, shih-tzu dog was referred for a sudden loss of consciousness that occurred during the washing process in a dog-wash store six hours before clinical evaluation. This report describes two cases of presumptive CNS concussion in dogs and discusses the neurophysiopathologic basis of such a condition. On the other hand, when the term concussion is used in veterinary medicine, it is more often linked to spinal cord injury with structural damage that is detectable on diagnostic imaging and is often adopted, confusingly, as a synonym for contusion (Olby, 1999 Ferreira et al., 2002 Kube and Olby, 2008).Īlthough several experimental studies on CNS concussion have been performed in small animals (Denny-Brown and Russell, 1940 Scott, 1940 Walker et al., 1944), clinical syndromes related to spontaneous concussive damage of the nervous system have not been described in dogs so far. Furthermore, canine cerebellar concussion, other than spinal concussion, has never been reported before. To date, although major textbooks of veterinary neurology (Platt et al., 2001 Lorenz et al., 2011 Platt and Garosi, 2012) admit the existence of canine brain concussion, no cases of such a pathological condition have been documented in dogs. Temporary unconsciousness, abolition of various reflex functions, amnesia and cerebellar dysfunction are described in human patients with head concussion, while a wide range of spinal cord dysfunction, ranging from paresthesia to quadriplegia, is reported for spinal concussion (Fumeya and Hideshima, 1994 Winder et al., 2011 Snedden, 2013). Although transitory, clinical signs may be severe and related to the CNS area involved in the concussive event.
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Depending on the area involved, three types of CNS concussion are reported in human patients: brain concussion, spinal cord concussion and cerebellar concussion (Zwimpfer and Bernstein, 1990 Fumeya and Hideshima, 1994). Finally, this paper proposes an appropriate definition of “concussion” in dogs, that may facilitate clinicians in the recognition of such an elusive syndrome.Ĭoncussion of the central nervous system (CNS) is characterized by rapid and complete resolution of neurological signs following a traumatic event without evidence of structural lesions of the affected anatomical regions on advanced diagnostic imaging (Snedden, 2013). In addition, a brief review of the definition of the term “concussion” in the veterinary medical literature is provided, in comparison to its meaning in the human medical literature. This report describes two cases of concussion in dogs: a 9-month-old, intact male, shih-tzu with brain concussion and a 10-month-old, intact male, poodle with cerebellar concussion.
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Although major textbooks of veterinary neurology admit the existence of canine brain concussion, spontaneous cases of this pathological condition have not been reported in small animals so far. Depending on the anatomical region involved, three forms of concussive syndromes are described: brain concussion, spinal concussion and cerebellar concussion. In human medicine, central nervous system (CNS) concussion is defined as a transient neurological dysfunction following a traumatic event, without evidence of structural abnormalities of the affected region on advanced diagnostic imaging.