title: Intervertebral disk degeneration in dogs: consequences, diagnosis, treatment, and future directions.
abstract: Evidence of intervertebral disk degeneration (IVDD) is extremely common in dogs, and its prevalence increases with age. It has many important consequences because degeneration of the intervertebral disks often is a prelude to disk herniation, which can injure the spinal cord, spinal nerves, or both. This review summarizes the advances in diagnosis and treatment of IVDD that have been made since the 1950s when the first detailed description of the degenerative changes was published. It also discusses new approaches to treatment of the associated spinal cord injury and new methods by which to classify injury severity that are currently under development.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Iowa State University, Ames, IA.
authors.forename: N D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Jeffery
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Levine
authors.forename: N J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Olby
authors.forename: V M
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Stein
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000662:veterinary; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D004285:Dogs; D055959:Intervertebral Disc Degeneration / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery / Q000662:veterinary*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000662:veterinary; D013117:Spinal Cord Compression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery / Q000662:veterinary*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000662:veterinary
keywords: Compression; Computed tomography; Contusion; Magnetic resonance imaging; Prognosis; Spinal cord injury