Disc Prosthesis Developed for Bad Backs in Dogs

Niklas Bergknut (Jenny Svennås-Gillner, SLU)

Humans and their canine best friends sometimes share a common affliction, back pain caused by slipped spinal discs. A doctoral candidate at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (Swedish acronym SLU) has developed a disc prosthesis that can help dogs and maybe humans with slipped discs.

Niklas Bergknut (pictured right) studied disc degeneration in dogs as part of his doctoral dissertation, which he defends later this month at SLU and the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. He found many similarities in worn-out spinal discs between humans and dogs, a case where veterinary and human medical research may overlap.

Bergknut discovered many dogs in Sweden have back problems. Some 3.5 percent of Swedish dogs experience back trouble, with males dogs 1.5 times as likely to have bad backs as females. Short dogs are more likely than larger breeds to have back problems, including 20 percent of dachshunds with slipped discs. But working dogs, such as German shepherds, are also more likely than most other dogs to have bad backs.

In his research, Bergknut tested a new method of treatment for dogs with back trouble. He developed a disc prosthesis, made out of a hydrogel, material composed of polymer chains used in a variety of applications for injury care and tissue engineering. Bergknut tested the disc prosthesis in the spines of deceased dogs.

He found prosthesis could restore normal anatomical distance between the vertebrae and normal mobility patterns for the backbone. As with humans, Bergknut says, early diagnosis of back problems with dogs is essential for treatments such as this prosthesis to be effective.

Read more: NFL Grant Funds Bioengineered Spinal Disc Research

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