Tetraparetic immature camel A 3-4 month old camel had shown weakness in walking and for the last 5 days has shown a tetraparesis. Radiographs were made of the cervical spine. Radiographic diagnosis
- End plate destruction at C4-5 with fragmentation of the cortical bone and possibility of small sequestration - the destruction is more prominent on the left side as seen on the ventrodorsal view
- Widening of disc space resulting from osteolysis of the bone tissue adjacent to the end plates more prominent on the left side
- Heavy sclerotic pattern of new bone within the vertebral bodies adjacent to the injured disc
- Heavy pattern of sclerotic spondylosis seen most easily ventral to the injured disc space - the lateral positioned spondylosis is seen with difficulty on the left side of the ventrodorsal view
- The endplates of C5-6 are less dense than expected, especially the cranial end plate of C6 (arrows next slide) - the adjacent vertebral bodies at this disc space are not normally aligned and it is possible to imagine that the cranial end plate of C6 has slipped ventrally and the body has moved dorsally - this supports the possibility that a similar but less severe lesion is present in that disc space as well
- The radiographic diagnosis is an infectious hematogenous discospondylitis
Differential diagnosis
- An old fracture with callus formation bridging the fracture site is not likely with the large osteolytic zone in the center of the lesion - the reactive bone is most likely in response to the instability at the site of infection and does not represent callus formation
- Bone tumors are unlikely in a patient of this age and do not center on the disc involving two adjacent vertebral segments
- The destructive/productive nature of the lesion tends to rule out any congenital/developmental lesion
- It is possible the infectious lesion is secondary to a puncture wound rather than being hematogenous, but it is unlikely for the infection to center so perfectly on the disc space or to involve an adjacent disc space
Comments
- The hematogenous lesion in the spine in this camel is similar to that as seen in other vertebrates - this suggests that bone tissue responds to injury in a similar manner regardless of the species
- Sequestra are frequent in this syndrome because of the high density of the bone tissue in the end plates delaying resorption of the bone
- It is typical that the lesion appears to be slowly developing with the surrounding spondylosis maintaining a stability between the vertebral segments thus, limiting the progression of clinical signs
