This retrospective study was to evaluate the functional recovery of paraplegic dogs without deep pain perception (DPP) with intervertebral disc disease (IVDD) submitted to dorsolateral hemilaminectomy. Only dogs with IVDD between spinal cord segments T3 and L3, which were paraplegic without DPP and were submitted to decompressive surgery were included in the study. Satisfactory functional recovery was observed in 73.3% of the dogs (n=11). Recovery time after surgery was one day (one dog), between 15 and 30 days (seven dogs) and over 30 days 30 days 3 dogs). The duration of the lack of DPP before surgery was 12-48 hours, in five recovered dogs and over 48 hours in six recovered dogs It can be concluded that paraplegic dogs with thoracolumbar IVD and lack of DPP may present satisfactory functional recovery when submitted to surgical treatment even when the absence of deep pain perception has settled for more than 48 hours. Further research is needed to better evaluate the effectiveness of surgical treatment, mainly for dogs with lack of DPP over 48 hours.
Diseases of dogs; intervertebral disc disease; paraplegia; functional recovery; neurology; neurosurgery
