Meningitis of Unknown Origin and Cytarabine Therapy in Dogs

Drs. Kimberley Stee and Mark Lowrie discuss their study on the use of cytosine arabinoside (CA; cytarabine) constant rate infusion for the treatment of MUO. Although it is known that the administration of cytosine arabinoside by CRI improves the 3-month survival of dogs diagnosed with MUO compared to subcutaneous administration, the benefit of administering subsequent sequential CA subcutaneous injections is unknown. This study of 42 dogs with MUO compares the outcomes of a CA CRI protocol with (CRI+subcutaneous group) or without (CRI group) subsequent CA subcutaneous injections; both groups received adjunctive prednisolone.