Background Disregarding atlantoaxial instability in toy breed dogs associated with dens malformation and cervical spondylomyelopathy; cervical vertebral malformations are rare and poorly characterised in veterinary medicine and consequently treatment strategies and clinical outcome are sparsely documented. Results Electronic clinical records at our veterinary referral hospital between April 2009 and November 2018 were searched for patients presented with cervical myelopathy secondary to an underlying suspected vertebral malformation/instability. Nine dogs met the inclusion criteria. Two dogs were diagnosed with atlantoaxial pseudoarthrosis, two dogs with a syndrome similar to Klippel-Feil in humans, two dogs with congenital cervical fusion, two dogs with congenital C2-C3 canal stenosis and deficiencies of the dorsal arch of the atlas and laminae of the axis and one with axial rotatory displacement. Tetraparesis, proprioceptive deficits, cervical hyperesthesia and cervical scoliosis were the most common clinical signs. The axis was the most commonly affected vertebrae (8/9 patients). Patients diagnosed with Klippel-Feil-like Syndrome were the younger (average of 262.5 days) and patients diagnosed with fused vertebrae the oldest (average of 2896 days) in our studied population (average of 1580.8 days). Conclusion Cervical vertebral malformations are rare, or alternatively, being underdiagnosed in veterinary medicine. Patients diagnosed with Klippel-Feil-like Syndrome had a successful medium and long-term outcome with conservative management. Surgical treatment was often indicated for the other conditions presented in this study due to spinal instability and/or myelopathy. Stabilisations via ventral approaches were revealed to be safe. Multicentre and prospective studies are necessary in veterinary medicine to better characterise clinical outcomes in cervical vertebral malformations.

中文翻译：

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9 只狗的颈椎畸形：放射学检查结果、治疗选择和结果。


背景 不考虑玩具犬的寰枢椎不稳定性与牙穴畸形和颈椎脊髓病相关；颈椎畸形在兽医学中很少见且特征不明，因此治疗策略和临床结果的记录很少。结果 搜索了 2009 年 4 月至 2018 年 11 月期间在我们兽医转诊医院的电子临床记录，以查找继发于潜在疑似椎骨畸形/不稳定的颈椎病的患者。九只狗符合纳入标准。两只狗被诊断患有寰枢椎假关节，两只狗患有类似于人类 Klippel-Feil 综合征的狗，两只狗患有先天性颈椎融合，两只狗患有先天性 C2-C3 管狭窄以及寰椎背弓和椎板缺陷轴和一个具有轴向旋转位移的轴。四肢轻瘫、本体感觉缺陷、颈椎感觉过敏和颈椎侧弯是最常见的临床症状。轴是最常受影响的椎骨（8/9 患者）。在我们的研究人群中，诊断为 Klippel-Feil 样综合征的患者年龄较小（平均 262.5 天），而诊断为融合椎体的患者年龄最大（平均 2896 天）（平均 1580.8 天）。结论 颈椎畸形很少见，或者在兽医学中诊断不足。诊断为 Klippel-Feil 样综合征的患者通过保守治疗取得了成功的中长期结果。由于脊柱不稳和/或脊髓病，本研究中出现的其他病症通常需要手术治疗。通过腹侧入路进行稳定被证明是安全的。 兽医学中需要进行多中心和前瞻性研究，以更好地表征颈椎畸形的临床结果。