Cervical chondroid chordoma in a standard dachshund: a case report

• Published in: Acta veterinaria scandinavica Vol. 53; no. 1; p. 55
• Main Authors: Stigen, Øyvind, Ottesen, Nina, Gamlem, Hans, Åkesson, Caroline P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 21-10-2011; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Animals; Ataxia; Care and treatment; Case Report; Case studies; cervical spine; Cervical Vertebrae - pathology; Cervical Vertebrae - surgery; Chordoma - pathology; Chordoma - surgery; Chordoma - veterinary; Dachshund; Diagnosis; Dog Diseases - pathology; Dog Diseases - surgery; Dogs; Euthanasia, Animal; Fatal Outcome; gait; Health aspects; histopathology; image analysis; Male; Medical imaging; neck; Pain; Pathology; quality of life; regrowth; Science; spinal cord; Spinal Cord Compression - etiology; Spinal Cord Compression - surgery; Spinal Cord Compression - veterinary; Spinal Neoplasms - pathology; Spinal Neoplasms - surgery; Spinal Neoplasms - veterinary; Surgery; Treatment Outcome; Tumors, Embryonal; vertebrae; Veterinarians; Norway
• ISSN: 1751-0147; 0044-605X; 1751-0147
• DOI: 10.1186/1751-0147-53-55

A ten-year-old male standard dachshund was presented with a history of neck pain and progressive gait disturbances. Following a neurological examination and diagnostic imaging, including CT, a neoplastic lesion involving the third and fourth cervical vertebrae was suspected. The lesion included an extradural mass on the right side of the spinal canal causing a local compression of the cervical cord. Surgery, using a modified dorsal laminectomy procedure, was performed in order to decompress the cervical spinal cord. Histopathological examination of the extradural mass indicated that the tumour was a chondroid chordoma. Following discharge, the quality of life for the dog was very good for a sustained period, but clinical signs recurred at 22 months. The dog was euthanased 25 months post-surgery. On post-mortem examination, a regrowth of neoplastic tissue was found to have infiltrated the bone and spinal cord at C3-C4. This is the first report to show that palliative surgery can offer successful long-lasting treatment of chondroid chordoma of the cervical spine in the dog.