MORPHOMETRIC AND PATHOMORPHOLOGICAL CHANGES IN DEGENERATIVEDYSTROPHIC PROCESS

Abstract

The degenerative-dystrophic process of the cervical spine (C-spine) has common features in humans and small domestic animals. Here are some of them: degenerative changes in the C-spine begin to develop with age in all mammals; aging or excessive loads affect the vertebrae, joints, vertebral processes, and intervertebral discs, leading to restricted mobility and amortization, pain syndrome, radiculopathies, vascular syndromes; pathomorphological changes in the vertebrae, intervertebral joints, discs, ligamentous apparatus affect the overall well-being of all mammals. The diagnostic algorithm involves a comprehensive approach to the diagnosis of both humans and small domestic animals: one or several methods of visualization, clinical examination, laboratory diagnostics, differential diagnosis, determination of symptoms and syndromes, computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the use of radiological and functional methods, etc. Despite the fact that humans and animals have different axial loads, lead different lifestyles, have different nutrition, and have anatomically and functionally different yet similar body structures, degenerative-dystrophic processes in the C-spine are an urgent social, medical, and veterinary problem. They unite all mammals: air, water, and the surface of the earth (soil, for growing potential food), although the food in mammals is usually different.

Studying the interrelation of anatomical and physiological features of the structure of the vertebral canal in domestic animals with manifestations of the degenerative-dystrophic process, complications in the form of deformation of the cervical lordosis, kyphotic changes, stenosis of the spinal canal, compression and condensation of the spinal cord, roots, ganglia, venous plexuses, etc., gives reason to think that the processes occurring in the cervical spine (C-spine) in different species of mammals are significantly different, but also have much in common. In our work, we paid special attention to the relationship between deformation of the vertebral canal of the cervical spine and compression of the spinal cord, spinal canal openings, the development of myelopathy and root syndromes, and the dependence of all these manifestations on the anatomical features of the vertebral column, in particular, on the ratio of the diameter of the spinal canal to the sagittal size of the vertebral body at the level of pathological and organic changes. Degenerative-

dystrophic lesions of the spine and general aging symptoms significantly affect the movement restriction of animals and humans and lead to the development of neurological deficits.

In dogs, osteochondrosis is a condition caused by a disturbance in endochondral ossification when both parts of the physes or deeper layers of the joint or spine surface are unable to transform into mature bone within the normal timeframe. The exact cause of osteochondrosis is not yet fully understood. Analyzing CT scans of the C-spine in small domestic animals, comparing and systematizing them with the frequency of occurrence in mammals. Conduct morphometry of C-spine vertebrae, visualize disc protrusions, marginal bony outgrowths, deformation of intervertebral joints, and the width of the spinal canal on CT examinations of the C-spine at the level of C3 and C6. Pay attention to interspecific comparative morphometric data in cats and dogs with a similar clinical picture for the differential diagnosis of pathological changes in the C-spine.