Canine Meningitis Arteritis

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The (sterile-purulent) meningitis arteritis of the dog (also steroid-responsive meningitis arteritis , SRMA , Beagle Pain Syndrome ) is a relatively common, inflammatory disease of the spinal cord in dogs , the cause of which is unknown. An increase in Ig A in serum and cerebrospinal fluid and a response to treatment with steroids are typical .

Etiology and pathogenesis

An infection or a toxin is suspected to be the triggering factor for the disease . This leads to a sterile, purulent inflammation of the spinal cord membranes ( meningitis ) and blood vessels ( arteritis ), presumably due to immunopathological processes.

The condition is most common in medium and large breed dogs between six and 18 months of age. A breed predisposition has been described for Beagle , German Boxer , Bernese Mountain Dog and Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever .

Clinical picture and diagnosis

In the acute form, recurrent pain and fever as well as a stiff neck posture dominate. If the course is chronic, there are other neurological deficits such as paresis , ataxia , anisocoria and strabismus .

During the blood test, an increase in the number of white blood cells ( leukocytosis ), especially neutrophils ( neutrophilia with shift to the left ) and an accelerated blood sedimentation can be found in the acute form . The C-reactive protein (CRP) is usually higher than in other neurological diseases, and other acute phase proteins ( SAA , AGP ) also show an increase in the blood. In the chronic course, the blood count is mostly unchanged.

The CSF examination shows severe pleocytosis , which is dominated by neutrophils in the acute form and monocytes in the chronic form . In addition, the protein content is slightly or moderately increased, the CRP in the cerebral fluid is greatly increased.

A reliable diagnosis is not possible in living animals. The clinical picture, the increase in Ig-A levels in the blood and cerebrospinal fluid, the exclusion of other spinal cord diseases and the response to prednisolone strongly indicate meningitis arteritis.

therapy

The SRMA usually responds well to long-term treatment with prednisolone . The therapy usually has to be extended over six months. Therapy can be monitored by determining CRP. Initially, antibiotics may be useful, at least until a bacteriological examination of the cerebrospinal fluid has ruled out bacterial meningitis, which is rare in dogs . With early treatment and in young dogs, the prognosis is usually good.

literature

  • A. Tipold & A. Jaggy: Steroid-Responsive Meningitis-Arteritis in Dogs- a long-term study of 32 cases. J. Small Anim. Practice 35/1994, pp. 311-316.
  • S. Cicinauskas, A. Jaggy & A. Tipold: Long-term treatment of dogs with Steroid-Responsive Meningitis-Arteriitis: clinical, laboratory and therapeutic results. J. Small Anim. Practice 41/2000, pp. 295-301.
  • Julia Voss et al .: Sterile purulent meningitis arteritis (SRMA) in three littermates of the Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen breed. In: Kleintierpraxis 57 (2012), pp. 185–191.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Anne-Kathrin Jasensky et al .: Review: Acute-phase proteins in small animal medicine. In: Kleintierpraxis Volume 63, 2018, pp. 594–610.
  2. ↑ M. Lowrie et al .: Steroid Responsive Meningitis Arteritis: A Prospective Study of Potential Disease Markers, Prednisolone Treatment, and Long-Term Outcome in 20 Dogs (2006-2008) . In: Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine . tape 23 , 2009, p. 862-870 , doi : 10.1111 / j.1939-1676.2009.0337.x , PMID 19566851 .

See also