Vet World   Vol.16   September-2023  Article-13

Research Article

Veterinary World, 16(9): 1871-1879

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2023.1871-1879

A retrospective study of structural brain lesions identified by magnetic resonance imaging in 114 cats with neurological signs

Kreevith Prompinichpong1,2, Naris Thengchaisri1, Nirut Suwanna1, Bordin Tiraphut2, Wutthiwong Theerapan1, Jörg M. Steiner3, and Panpicha Sattasathuchana1
1. Department of Companion Animal Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, 10900, Thailand.
2. Kasetsart University Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, 10900, Thailand.
3. Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, Gastrointestinal Laboratory, School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, USA.

Background and Aim: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been widely used as a non-invasive modality to evaluate neurological organ structures. However, brain MRI studies in cats with neurological signs are limited. This study evaluated the association between patient characteristics, neurological signs, and brain lesion locations identified by MRI. Blood profiles of cats with presumptive inflammatory and structural brain lesions were also determined.

Materials and Methods: Medical records of 114 cats that underwent brain MRI were retrospectively reviewed. Cats were categorized into five groups based on the location of their lesion: Cerebrum, brainstem, cerebellum, multifocal, and non-structural. Patient characteristics, neurological signs, and hematological profiles were obtained from their medical records. Disease classification was categorized based on their etiologies. Associations were determined using Fisher's exact test. Blood parameters were compared using the Kruskal-Wallis test.

Results: A total of 114 cats met the inclusion criteria. Lesions were identified in the cerebrum (21.1%), brainstem (8.8%), cerebellum (6.1%), multifocal (39.5%), and non-structural (24.6%) of the cats. Common neurological signs included seizure activity (56.1%), cerebellar signs (41.2%), and anisocoria (25.4%). The most common brain abnormality was inflammation (40.4%). There was no significant difference in hematological profiles between cats with presumptive inflammatory and non-inflammatory brain lesions. Neutrophils, platelets, total protein, and globulin concentrations were higher in cats with structural brain lesions.

Conclusion: The most common neurological signs and brain disease category were seizure activity and inflammation, respectively. However, the hematological profile did not predict inflammatory and structural brain lesions. Further studies with a large number of birds are required to molecularly characterize the circulating strains of this virus in this area. Keywords: brainstem, cerebellum, cerebrum, feline, seizure.

Keywords: brainstem, cerebellum, cerebrum, feline, seizure.

How to cite this article: Prompinichpong K, Thengchaisri N, Suwanna N, Tiraphut B, Theerapan W, Steiner JM, and Sattasathuchana P (2023) A retrospective study of structural brain lesions identified by magnetic resonance imaging in 114 cats with neurological signs, Veterinary World, 16(9): 1871-1879.

Received: 02-06-2023  Accepted: 21-08-2023     Published online: 17-09-2023

Corresponding author: Panpicha Sattasathuchana   E-mail: psatta99@gmail.com

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2023.1871-1879

Copyright: Prompinichpong, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.