Back Surgery on a Lion-tailed Macaque

Thoracolumbar Hemilaminectomy and Spinal Cord Decompression – October 10, 2007

A 16-yr-old, castrated male lion-tailed macaque (Macaca silenus) presented with acute bilateral pelvic limb paralysis. Cisternal and lumbar myelograms demonstrated right-sided spinal cord compression at T13-L1. During an extradural hemilaminectomy, chronically ruptured disk material was removed at T13-L1, with moderate venous dilatation observed cranially. The macaque fully recovered from clinical signs within 2 mo.

- Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine 39(2):270-273. 2008
doi: 10.1638/2007-0140R.1

Read the full article here.