Imaging diagnosis: cranial cervical intraspinal schwannoma in a dog

A 3-year-old, intact female Golden Retriever was presented with acute tetraplegia. Neurologic examination was consistent with a C1-C5 myelopathy. On magnetic resonance (MR) imaging a well-defined, extradural mass was detected within the spinal canal at the level of C1-C2. The mass was isointense to normal spinal cord gray matter on T1-weighted (T1W) images, hyperintense on T2-weighted (T2W), and gradient-echo (GE) images, and enhanced homogeneously after intravenous contrast administration. MR imaging features were mainly consistent with a meningioma. Surgical treatment was refused by the owners, and the dog was euthanized. Postmortem examination demonstrated that the intraspinal mass was a schwannoma.