Vets help dog with rare ‘human’ syndrome

A Hungarian vizsla is back to enjoying life after specialist vets teamed up to diagnose and treat a rare human neck syndrome seen previously only in humans.

Deazel, 13, had a tendency for deviated tongue and severe neck and head pain, and was referred to Wear Referrals when a first opinion vet noticed a trigger point near his first cervical vertebrae, along with peculiar tongue behaviour.

Clare Rusbridge, senior neurologist and professor in veterinary neurology, considered the unusual pain syndrome and diagnosed the pain was due to dysfunction or disease of nerve roots in the upper neck – especially the C1 nerve root.

‘Team effort’

The disorder, known as neck tongue syndrome, has only previously been described in humans.

Deazel underwent advanced imaging at Wear, including MRI and CT scans, to rule out structural causes and, following this, it was decided to “block” the C1 and C2 nerve root to see if this improved the clinical signs.

Prof Rusbridge said: “It was a true team effort to treat Deazel.

“From the keen observations of his referring vet to the precise needle placement by our skilled anaesthetist Felipe Grados, it was a truly multidisciplinary collaboration.”