Magnetic Resonance Imaging Correlation with Surgical Findings in Canine Brain Tumors: A Pilot Study in Lagos

Brain tumors in dogs are increasingly recognized as a cause of progressive neurological dysfunction, and magnetic resonance imaging offers superior soft tissue contrast for intracranial lesion characterization compared to conventional radiographic methods. This pilot study correlates MRI imaging characteristics with intraoperative and histopathological findings in dogs confirmed to have intracranial neoplasia at a veterinary neurology referral center in Lagos State, South West Nigeria, between June 2022 and May 2024. Eighteen dogs with confirmed brain tumors were enrolled following MRI evaluation under general anesthesia using a 1.5 Tesla human MRI unit. T1-weighted, T2-weighted, FLAIR, and gadolinium-enhanced sequences were acquired and interpreted by a dual-blinded radiological team. Surgical craniotomy was performed in nine dogs with accessible supratentorial lesions, and biopsy samples were submitted for histopathology. Meningioma was the most frequently diagnosed tumor type in 44% of cases, followed by glioma in 28%. MRI correctly predicted tumor type in 78% of cases compared to histopathological diagnosis, with highest accuracy for meningiomas showing characteristic broad dural attachment and homogeneous enhancement. Intracranial hypertension was predicted by MRI in 83% of cases later confirmed at surgery. This pilot study constitutes one of the first MRI-surgical correlation studies for canine brain tumors in Nigeria and demonstrates the feasibility and diagnostic value of using human MRI infrastructure for veterinary neurology. Keywords: brain tumor, MRI, canine neurology, craniotomy, Lagos.