A utilização da ozonioterapia no tratamento de hérnia de disco em cão

Herniated disc is an affection of the intervertebral disc that often affects dogs of all breeds, ages and sex, and may have higher incidence in the breeds Dachshund, Pug, Cocker Spaniel and Pekinese. There are predisposing causes for the development of these discopathies, such as obesity, anatomical peculiarities of the spine of some breeds, falls, or trauma. The affected patients usually present pain, resistance to locomotion, proprioceptive ataxia, urinary and fecal incontinence or urinary retention, loss of sensation in the extremities, and may evolve to paresis or paralysis. Diagnosis is made by imaging exams, most commonly magnetic resonance and/or tomography, which indicate disc protrusions and extrusions causing spinal cord compression and dehydration/degeneration of the intervertebral disc. Treatment depends on the clinical condition of the animal, and may involve drug treatment, integrative medicine such as ozone therapy, physiotherapy, acupuncture or, in more severe cases such as disc extrusion, even surgery. In this report, the case of a 07-year-old pug dog that underwent ozone therapy sessions as a treatment for disc herniation will be discussed. The animal presented great recovery after 10 sessions of ozone therapy through paravertebral, trigger point and rectal insufflation techniques. Because it is a very common diagnosis in the clinical routine, the investigation of clinical signs, complementary exams and knowledge surrounding anatomy and ozone therapy techniques is of the utmost importance in obtaining the correct diagnosis and success in the integrative treatment.