Small breed dogs with confirmed stroke: concurrent diseases and sonographic findings

Cerebrovascular accidents (CVA) are important causes of neurological clinical signs in dogs. The objective of this work was to describe concurrent diseases and ultrasonographic features in dogs with CVA confirmed through postmortem evaluation. All medical records of transcranial Doppler ultrasonography (TCDUS) examinations performed in 512 dogs between 2007 and 2009 were reviewed, searching for history and clinical diagnosis, as well as sonographic and histological results. Forty-two dogs were selected, showing acute onset of clinical signs with no progressive focal cerebral dysfunction and diagnosis of cerebrovascular disease confirmed at necropsy. Concurrent diseases and conditions were: cerebral amyloid microangiopathy (33%), endocrinopathies (31%), coagulopathy (24%), Schnauzer hyperlipemia (7%) and unknown (5%). The relation between sonography and histology results indicated 100% sensitivity and 90% specificity for focal lesion detection. A diffuse decrease in echogenicity was related to inflammatory diseases and/or edema with 62% sensitivity. A diffuse increase in echogenicity has 100% sensitivity and was usually related to aging changes. This study showed the occurrence of coexisting diseases with CVA and sonographic features of these conditions in small breed dogs.