The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.
ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Oncology in Veterinary Medicine
Volume 11 - 2024 |
doi: 10.3389/fvets.2024.1385093
Neurological manifestations in dogs with acute leukaemia
Provisionally accepted- 1 Dick White Referrals, Six Mile Bottom, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
- 2 Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pisa, Pavia, Lombardy, Italy
Canine acute leukaemia is a rare haematopoietic neoplasm. Neurological abnormalities have been repeatedly reported in dogs with acute leukaemia however description of presentation and findings are limited. To describe the clinical findings in dogs with acute leukaemia presenting with neurological signs as their chief complaint. The database of a private referral hospital was searched for cases that presented to the neurological department with neurological deficits and were subsequently diagnosed with acute leukaemia. Six cases were included; all had neurological clinical signs and abnormal neurological examination. All had a focal neuroanatomical localisation on neurological examination (brain n=4; spinal=2). Of the four dogs with a complete MRI study, there was an ill-defined infiltrative pattern in the central nervous system in three dogs with abnormal signal intensity and loss of grey and white matter differentiation in the brain (n=2) and/or spinal cord (n=2). Other MRI findings included abnormal meningeal enhancement (n=3), changes affecting spinal nerves (n=2) and epaxial muscles (n=2), and lymphadenopathy in the field of view. Bone marrow assessment on MRI showed evidence of signal change (n=3), characterised by loss of normal fat opacity and an abnormal degree of contrast enhancement. The four dogs with cerebrospinal fluid analysis had increased protein with non-specific pleocytosis without evidence of malignant cells. Treatment with cytotoxic medication was implemented in two dogs. Dogs diagnosed with acute leukaemia had a focal neuroanatomical localisation, infiltrative CNS pattern and bone marrow remodulation on MRI with an increase in CSF protein with negative cytology analysis.
Keywords: Bone marrow magnetic resonance imaging, Acute leukaemia magnetic resonance imaging, Veterinary neuro-oncology, Dog acute leukaemia, Central nervous system leukaemia
Received: 11 Feb 2024; Accepted: 12 Jun 2024.
Copyright: © 2024 Lyseight, Pittaway, Dennis and Cherubini. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Filipa L. Lyseight, Dick White Referrals, Six Mile Bottom, CB8 0UH, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
Charles Pittaway
1