Test Detail

Hereditary paroxysmal neurological disorder of the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel in which episodes of muscle hypertonia and limb rigidity cause falls or 'locking' while walking, with spontaneous recovery. It is caused by a deletion in the BCAN gene, which encodes brevican, an extracellular matrix proteoglycan of the nervous system. It is not painful and the dog usually maintains a normal mental state during and after the episodes.

Described mainly in the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. No reliable published carrier frequencies are available for the general population of the breed.

- Test breeding dogs before mating
- Do not mate two carriers
- A carrier may be mated to a clear dog; test the offspring intended for breeding
- Do not breed from affected animals
- Do not confuse the BCAN test with other neurological tests for the breed (for example, syringomyelia or exercise-induced collapse)

Differential diagnosis with exercise-induced collapse (DNM1), cardiac syncope, epilepsy and paroxysmal dyskinesias. Do not confuse with the terrier ataxias (CAPN1, KCNJ10). Diagnosis relies on the history of episodes triggered by exercise or excitement and can be confirmed genetically. There is no specific curative treatment; management includes avoiding triggers and, in selected cases, symptomatic treatment.

1. Gill JL et al. 2012. A canine BCAN microdeletion associated with episodic falling syndrome. Neurobiology of Disease. PMID: 21821125
2. Forman OP et al. 2012. Parallel mapping and simultaneous sequencing reveals deletions in BCAN and FAM83H associated with discrete inherited disorders in a domestic dog breed. PLOS Genetics. PMID: 22253609
3. OMIA:001592-9615. Episodic falling, BCAN-related. Online Mendelian Inheritance in Animals.