Head Space Project (Canine Chiari Group)

Brachycephaly is associated with many health and welfare problems. One of the most serious is Chiari-like malformation (CM). CM is characterised by a short skull resulting in brain and upper spinal cord overcrowding causing pain and leading to spinal cord cavities called syringomyelia (SM). It is common - one UK referral practice found that 9.7% of all dogs presented with neck pain had CM (CM-P) or SM. SM can result in neurological problems include debilitating “phantom” scratching, scoliosis and weakness.

Currently SM is diagnosed by MRI whereas a diagnosis of CM-P is made by a combination of appropriate history and clinical signs, exclusion of other causes of pain and MRI. In some breeds, for example Cavalier King Charles spaniels (CKCS) and Chihuahua, CM is so common that it is very challenging to find an unaffected dog.

We know that certain head shapes make CM-P and SM more likely – dogs with a higher cephalic index (broad and short head) with a prominent stop and reduced muzzle appear more at risk. This means breeders could select for a less risky head shape if they knew what to select for.

In the Head Space Project, we aim to create an objective assessment of head shape using facial recognition technology to better define the face of CM-P and SM. To achieve this, we first built a dedicated 5-camera system which can gather 3D data to generate a 3D model of the complete head.  We are now making 3D computer models of dogs with known clinical and MRI CM-SM status. We are comparing 3 groups of CKCS: 1) clinically normal CKCS – so-called Chiari malformation – normal (CM-N) 2) CKCS with clinical signs from syringomyelia – so called syringomyelia – severe / signs (SM-S) 3) CKCS with clinical signs of pain and no syringomyelia – so-called Chiari malformation pain (CM-P)