COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHIC ASPECTS OF PRIMARY BRAIN TUMORS IN DOGS AND CATS

Abstract

Over the years, the Veterinary Medicine has made great advances, enabling thus the diagnosis of many diseases. As a result of this new situation, there was an increased expectation of life of animals resulting in an increase in the number of clinical care of older animals. Thus, diseases considered unusual in the past, begin to be diagnosed more frequently, as is the case of brain damage. Recently, computed tomography has been widely used in Brazil as a tool to aid in the diagnosis of several diseases. This noninvasive imaging technique allows the identification and evaluation of lesions of central nervous tissue such as brain tumors. This provides information about the size, shape and location of the lesion, in addition to the magnitude of compression and invasion of adjacent structures by the tumor and its side effects (such as the peritumoral edema and hydrocephalus). The image obtained from computed tomography may suggest the presence of a certain type brain tumor, data of great importance for the prognosis and treatment of the animal. This review covers the computed tomography  aspects of primary brain tumors such as meningiomas, astrocytomas, oligodendrogliomas, choroid plexus tumors and ependymomas. However, despite the computed tomography provide much information about the changes inside the skull; no way replace histopathological examination in determining the definitive diagnosis.