Background: Surgical access to the spinal cord at the level of C2 vertebra presents technical limitations, due to anatomical particularities in this region. The ventral slot technique does not allow space for the removal of dorsolateral masses. The axis hemilaminectomy technique provides limited access to the dorsal aspect of spinal cord and there is a risk of damaging the vertebral arteries. The axis dorsal laminotomy technique allows good access to spinal cord and preserves the atlantoaxial and nuchal ligaments, however few papers describe this technique. The objective of this paper is to report the axis dorsal laminotomy performed in a dog with a meningioma at this level. Case: An 11-year-old male, Maltese dog, was presented with a 15-day history of progressive weakness, intense cervical pain and difficulty in locomotion of the four limbs. He was being treated with painkillers without improvement. On clinical examination, the physiological parameters were normal. Neurological examination showed tetraparesis with the syndrome localized in the cranial cervical region. The main differential diagnoses were intervertebral disc disease, neoplasia, inflammatory or infectious disease. Computed tomography was performed and the evaluation of images allowed the visualization of an intradural-extramedullary neoplastic process, promoting important spinal compression, with approximate dimensions of the lesion 0.70 cm high x 0.67 cm wide x 0.78 cm long, with apparent involvement of the meninges, with a more lateralized location on the left, with meningioma being the main differential diagnosis. Thus, exploratory surgery, through the technique of dorsal laminotomy of the axis was performed. After the removal of the mass, the spinous process was repositioned in its anatomical location and fixed with 0.6 mm steel cerclage wire that was passed through the holes made in the dorsal lamina of the...(AU)
Laminotomia dorsal do áxis para excisão de meningioma em cão/ Axis dorsal laminotomy for excision of a meningioma in a dog