This is to say a heartfelt thank you to all the staff at the practice for the welcome and care you gave us. Particularly the exceptional approach, the time and empathy shown to my 90 year old mother which was highly appreciated...
We cannot directly repair any damage already done to the nerve tissue of the spinal cord. In patients with only very minor symptoms, non-surgical management (such as by anti-inflammatory medications and strict rest) may be sufficient, although in most of the patients we see, they are so severely affected that surgical treatment is necessary.
Surgery is aimed at first removing any compression of the spinal cord (“decompression”) in order to allow it to heal as far as possible, and secondarily trying to reduce the chance of this injury happening again at the same site. Surgery is performed by drilling a window through the vertebral bone over the site of the IVD disease, allowing access to the spinal canal. This allows examination of the spinal cord and removal of abnormal IVD material from around the spinal cord. In the thoracic and lumbar spine (upper and lower back respectively), this is usually done from above and on one side of the spinal canal using a technique called “hemilaminectomy”. In the cervical spine (neck), it is more commonly done from the underside of the neck.
Many animals will make excellent recoveries from this type of injury, although we can only advise about expected outcome on an individual basis. Spinal disease must always be considered to be a serious and potentially life-threatening problem. Rest and rehabilitation are essential to allow recovery, and we will advise you on an individual basis how best achieve this. Some patients may need to stay in the hospital for several weeks to allow us to perform frequent physiotherapy or even hydrotherapy with them, in order to expedite their recovery.