PMC7968032_01
Thoracocolumbar spine of a 4-month-old Ragdoll cat. (a) T2-weighted (T2W) sagittal image. (b) T2W and (b') T2*W transverse images at the level T10-T11. (c) T2W and (c') T2*W transverse images at the level T11-T12. Note the heterogeneous hyperintense signal of the spinal cord in both sagittal and transverse T2W images (yellow arrows in a-c). (b',c') On both T2*W images, the white arrows are pointing towards a susceptibility artefact within the spinal cord, indicating intramedullary haemorrhage
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T2-weighted (T2W) fast-spin echo T2 sequence from T1 to L1. The swelling was most severe at the level of the thoracolumbar junction. The spinal cord showed heterogeneous T2W intramedullary hyperintensity (Figure 1a-c) and focal hypointense signal at the level of T10 to L1. In T2*-weighted images, there was an intramedullary signal void extending from T10 to T13 (Figure 1 b',c'). No notable changes were detected in any intervertebral discs or in the paraspinal muscles (Figure 1a-c).
Macroscopic dorsal view of formalin-fixed spinal cord of a 4-month-old Ragdoll cat. Note the severe right-sided segmental haemorrhage and myelomalacia from T10 to L1 (white arrows)
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Photomicrography. Haematoxylin and eosin staining of (a) longitudinal and (b) transverse view of the spinal cord at the level of T13 showing haemorrhagic myelomalacia in a 4-month-old Ragdoll cat. Note the severe haemorrhage (*) and the necrosis (<)
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Representative longitudinal and transversal sections were embedded in paraffin and sectioned at 4 microm and stained with haematoxylin and eosin for histopathology (Figures 3 and 4). A large focal and severe intramedullary space-occupying haemorrhage displacing neuroparenchyma was observed (Figure 3a).
Photomicrography. Haematoxylin and eosin staining of the spinal cord between T10 and L1 of a 4-month-old Ragdoll cat. (a) Note the area of necrosis in the grey matter with a necrotic neuron (arrow) and infiltration by neutrophils; (b) large aggregations of numerous enlarged phagocytic cells with vacuolar cytoplasm called gitter cells (arrows); and (c) a longitudinal empty space close to the haemorrhage that contains some eosinophilic droplets (arrow) at the edges and could be compatible with an injection trajectory
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Representative longitudinal and transversal sections were embedded in paraffin and sectioned at 4 microm and stained with haematoxylin and eosin for histopathology (Figures 3 and 4). The haemorrhage was surrounded by oedematous and necrotic neuroparenchyma with swollen axons and hypereosinophilic neurons (Figure 4a). Focally, necrosis had progressed to cystic malacia and was infiltrated by numerous gitter cells (Figure 4b) and neutrophils (Figure 4a), and had multiple areas of mineralisation. A trajectory-like, longitudinal optically empty cavity was detected containing some eosinophilic droplets at the edges (Figure 4c).