Complete resolution of diffuse inflammatory tracheal stenosis in a dog

Abstract

A four-year-old female entire Weimaraner, recently diagnosed with epilepsy, was referred with a three-week history of coughing and lethargy. The dog had been diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia on thoracic radiographs, but the cough continued despite antibiotic therapy and an apparent improvement in the radiographic lung changes. CT of the thorax revealed a diffuse and severe nodular thickening of the tracheal wall. Tracheoscopy showed a thickened and irregular mucosa with multiple nodules causing segmental stenosis of the trachea. Histopathology of the nodular tracheal mucosa demonstrated severe, multifocal to diffuse neutrophilic inflammation. Once infectious and neoplastic causes were excluded, the dog was diagnosed with an inflammatory tracheitis of unknown aetiology. A tapering course of glucocorticoids was prescribed, which led to a complete clinical and endoscopic resolution of the coughing and tracheal lesions, respectively.

Diagnosis and therapy of polypoid tracheobronchitis presenting as a mass in a dog

“…A recent case report described a diffuse inflammatory tracheal stenosis of unknown aetiology in a dog which resolved after prednisone therapy. 11 Histopathology showed neutrophilic inflammation in comparison with the lymphoplasmacytic of the present case. The distribution of the disease was diffuse instead of forming a dorsal mass and the dog responded to anti-inflammatory doses of corticosteroids only, compared to the need for immunosuppressive doses of prednisone and a second immunosuppressive drug in this case.…”