Canine intervertebral disc disease: Changes in the cerebrospinal fluid

Data was obtained from 118 cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from dogs with intervertebral disc disease. The effect of lesion location and the severity and duration of clinical signs was studied. Ninety-seven samples were obtained from the cerebellomedullary cistern and 21 from the lumbar cistern. Changes in CSF were identified in 84.7 per cent of the lumbar samples, compared with only 37.1 per cent of the cerebellomedullary samples. More pronounced pleocytosis and protein level increases were seen in dogs with acute and clinically severe lesions. The protein concentration was more commonly elevated than the total white blood cell count. These results indicate that marked protein and white blood cell count elevations can occur in association with intervertebral disc extrusion. Such findings, therefore, should not necessarily preclude myelographic examination in dogs presented for paralysis.