TABLE 1.
Clinical characteristics, diagnostic work‐up, and samples for neural antibodies in pet dogs with epilepsy or dyskinesia and controls.
| No. dogs | Additional features | Diagnostic tests | Samples | Neural antibody testing | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acute onset a | Behavior changes | Immune‐mediated comorbidity b | MRI | CT | CSF | EEG | Serum | CSF | Serum only | CSF only | CSF/serum pairs | ||
| Epilepsy/dyskinesia group (n = 58) | 30 | 17 | 18 | 52 | 1 | 48 | 12 | 57 | 38 | 20 | 1 | 37 | |
| Epileptic seizures | 38 | 18 | 14 | 11 | 38 | 1 | 35 | 4 | 37 | 27 | 11 | 1 | 26 |
| Tonic‐clonic epileptic seizures | 32 | 15 | 11 | 10 | 32 | — | 29 | 2 | 31 | 22 | 10 | 1 | 21 |
| Generalized | 14 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 14 | — | 12 | — | 13 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 9 |
| Focal to bilateral tonic‐clonic | 9 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 9 | — | 8 | 2 | 9 | 5 | 4 | — | 5 |
| Additional focal seizures | 9 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 9 | — | 9 | — | 9 | 7 | 2 | — | 7 |
| Focal epileptic seizures | 6 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 1 | — | 5 |
| Suspected dyskinesia/unclassified | 20 | 12 | 3 | 7 | 14 | — | 13 | 8 | 20 | 11 | 9 | — | 11 |
| Dystonia | 2 | 1 | — | — | 2 | — | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | — | — | 2 |
| Unclassified tremor/myoclonus/episodes | 6 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | — | 5 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 3 | — | 3 |
| Idiopathic head tremor | 12 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 6 | — | 6 | 6 | 12 | 6 | 6 | — | 6 |
| Control group (n = 57) | — | — | — | 17 | 5 | 17 | — | 46 | 17 | 40 | 11 | 6 | |
| Neurologic disease | 22 | — | — | — | 17 | 5 | 17 | — | 11 | 17 | 5 | 11 | 6 |
| Compressive myelopathy c | 14 | — | — | — | 10 | 5 | 11 | — | 6 | 11 | 3 | 8 | 3 |
| Lumbosacral disease | 3 | — | — | — | 3 | — | 2 | — | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | — |
| Fibrocartilagenous embolism | 1 | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | 1 | — | 1 | — | — |
| Meningitis/meningoencephalitis | 2 | — | — | — | 1 | — | 2 | — | 2 | 2 | — | — | 2 |
| Idiopathic vestibular disease | 1 | — | — | — | 1 | — | 1 | — | — | 1 | — | 1 | — |
| Unexplained lameness | 1 | — | — | — | 1 | — | 1 | — | 1 | 1 | — | — | 1 |
| Non‐neurologic disease | 25 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 25 | — | 25 | — | — |
| Cardiologic | 7 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 7 | — | 7 | — | — |
| Metabolic/endocrine/gastroenterologic | 6 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 6 | — | 6 | — | — |
| Trauma | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 4 | — | 4 | — | — |
| Dental | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 4 | — | 4 | — | — |
| Orthopedic | 3 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 3 | — | 3 | — | — |
| Dermatologic | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | — | 1 | — | — |
| Healthy | 10 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 10 | — | 10 | — | — |
| Preventative health care | 8 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 8 | — | 8 | — | — |
| Blood donor | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 2 | — | 2 | — | — |
| All dogs (n = 115) | 30 | 17 | 18 | 69 | 6 | 65 | 12 | 103 | 55 | 60 | 12 | 43 | |
a
Onset was described in detail in 54 dogs. An acute onset was defined by ≥2 days with epileptic seizures or other episodes in the first 4 weeks, or cluster seizures or episodes or status epilepticus at onset.
b
One dog had a history of surgical removal of an abdominal teratoma and encephalomyelitis 2 years before the onset of epilepsy (not counted here). An immune‐mediated comorbidity was an exclusion criteria for control dogs.
c
Intervertebral disc herniation (n = 9), subarachnoid diverticula (n = 3), disc‐associated cervical spondylomyelopathy (n = 2).