Clinical-surgical case: hemivertebra in a bulldog

Abstract

Hemivertebra is a congenital malformation, that affects small and brachicephalic breeds particularly those with short and twisted tail. Its origin is hereditary. It becomes from an inappropriate or incomplete embryo development of a vertebrae or due to its vascularization or ossification. Hemivertebras are cuneiform vertebrae and its vertex may be lead dorsally, ventrally or medianly through the mean line. It happens mostly in thoracic vertebras. Symptomatology is varied; the most important is pain, showed by young animals, three or four months of age with weakness of posterior limbs. It could be found pain at back when palpations near the hemivertebra. In puppies with those symptoms, the paralysis in posterior limbs gets worse; they can show muscular atrophy, and no control of bladder and intestines. Final diagnostic of hemivertebra must be done with radiological studies of spinal column and the treatment consists in decompress the vertebral body involved and a stabilization of the spinal column. This study presents the case of a male Bulldog, six months old, which is taken to the clinic because of pain, and neurological symptomatology and after many clinical exams a hemivertebra was confirmed. The patient had a surgery for its treatment and all steps of the surgical process are shown.