Figure 14-42.

Diskospondylitis, Thoracic Spinal Cord, Pig.

This type of abscess (arrows) is commonly caused by bacterial emboli that lodge in intervertebral disks or in the body of vertebrae causing osteomyelitis, which can extend into intervertebral disks. Large intervertebral abscesses can compress the spinal cord and cause Wallerian degeneration of nerves, mainly in the ventral funiculi but also in other funiculi. In this case, remodeling and proliferation of the vertebral bone secondary to the infection also contributed to the narrowing of the spinal canal and compression of the spinal cord.

(Courtesy Dr. M.D. McGavin, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tennessee.)