Infiltrative laryngeal disease in dogs

Abstract

Objectives To describe the clinical features and outcome of neoplastic and inflammatory infiltrative laryngeal disease in dogs. Materials and Methods Medical records at a single referral centre were retrospectively reviewed for dogs diagnosed with infiltrative laryngeal disease by CT or laryngoscopy. Results Fifteen dogs were included, with a median age of 6 years (range 1‐14 years). Thirteen dogs were diagnosed with inflammatory disease including granulation tissue (n = 4) and neutrophilic (n = 2), septic neutrophilic (n = 2), eosinophilic (n = 1) lymphocytic/plasmacytic (n = 1) and mixed/unclassified (n = 3) inflammation. One dog was diagnosed with large cell lymphoma and one dog was diagnosed with mast cell tumour. Twelve dogs survived to discharge. Follow‐up was available for 10 dogs diagnosed with inflammatory disease. Four had fully recovered (7, 10, 23 and 32 months) and one dog developed acute leukaemia and was euthanased at 2 months. Five dogs had recurrence of clinical signs at 1, 1, 5, 17 and 26 months. The dog with lymphoma was euthanased at 8 months and the dog with mast cell tumour died at 5 months. Clinical Significance In this cohort, infiltrative inflammatory lesions of the larynx were more common than neoplastic infiltration. For dogs that survived to discharge, outcome was fair although relapse was common.