Transendoscopic neodymium:yttrium-aluminum-garnet (Nd:YAG) laser was used to treat 12 standing horses with epiglottic entrapment (EE) or dorsal displacement of the soft palate (DDSP), or both. In four horses, transendoscopic laser staphylectomy was performed. The most common presenting complaints were respiratory stridor, cough, and exercise intolerance. Ten horses with EE healed without epiglottic complications; in one horse, partial adhesion of the aryepiglottic fold to one side of the epiglottis was corrected surgically through a laryngotomy incision. One horse with DDSP had no further signs, one continued to have continual DDSP, and two had induced DDSP. Transendoscopic Nd:YAG laser proved to be a feasible means of correcting EE and selected cases of DDSP.
A device was constructed of easily obtained medical supplies, and hardware and could be used to obtain multiple arterial samples when manually triggered. The right carotid arteries in five normal horses were surgically elevated, thereby permitting percutaneous cannulation. Each horse was galloped on a 1.6-km test track at approximately 500 m/min, and the rider triggered the mechanism at each 0.4-km mark. Each horse underwent 10 test gallops, and a mean and standard error was determined for each sampling mark including preexercise and postexercise samples. The results indicated that horses ridden under the aforementioned conditions became acidemic and hypoxic.
Laryngeal surgery in the equine is customarily and routinely performed by means of a ventral laryngotomy incision. Such procedures are usually performed under deep general anesthesia with the horse in dorsal recumbency. The objective of this work was to determine the efficacy of an endoscopic approach coupled to a Nd:YAG laser fiber in performing arytenoidectomy. Arytenoidectomy is commonly indicated in the treatment of arytenoid chondritis and in the failure of prosthetic implantation for left laryngeal hemiplegia. This preliminary study was undertaken to determine the feasibility of the endoscopic laser approach to ablate the most difficult of the structures of the larynx, considering tissue structure and density. This procedure was accomplished by using heavy sedation and local anesthesia and was performed in the standing position. This approach appears to be feasible and makes other adjacent structures accessible via the endoscope coupled to a surgical laser. Indications for future pilot applications of laser surgery in the equine larynx are entrapment of the epiglottis, dorsal soft palate displacement, and the ablation of laryngeal cysts and polyps. This pilot study appears to offer a new modality for discrete surgical ablation of this structure, with minimal postoperative complications and a reduced or equivalent convalescent period in this valuable species of animal.
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