I dog I know developed sudden paralysis due to Fibro-cartilagenous embolism. As this condition does not exist in humans, I was wondering what the difference in anatomy is that allow this to happen in dogs? Do dog intervertebral discs have a blood supply. Is the blood flow such that it goes into the disc and then into the spinal cord?
The NIH considers it rare, but it can and does occur in humans.
And yes, both dogs and humans have blood supply to the intervertebral discs. Fibrocartilage is living tissue like most of the body, and would quickly die without it.
Actually, at least humans don’t. And in fact cartilage has been looked at for it’s anti-angiogenesis factor as something that might be good against cancer.
The occurrence of FCE in humans is not clear. Many times it is a diagnosis of exclusion (ie, it is not anything we can prove) and there is a case report from China that mentions arterial and venous embolization in a human patient. Unless there is a fistula of some kind then this cannot occur. I suspect what they were seeing is the result of an infarct of some cause, rather than the cause of that infarct.
I’m not a doctor. Maybe you are.
One of the articles at the NIH site (link to PDF) discusses 32 cases where FCE was diagnosed in humans. It contains case studies, including images of MRIs.
I had not come across that article. It comes from a respected journal. However, what it says is that these are the findings, we really don’t understand how it occurs, but perhaps this mechanism is at work. The mechanism is pure speculation. While it might be right, it is just conjecture. Something strange is going on.