Upper Airway Obstruction General Principles and Selected Conditions in the Dog and Cat

Upper Airway Disease: Laryngeal Trauma

“…Animals with laryngeal trauma often present with severe upper airway obstruction secondary to disruption of the normal laryngeal anatomy as well as hemorrhage and swelling within the larynx [1]. Difficulty breathing is noticed on inspiration and expiration.…”

The Respiratory System

“…Neuroleptanalgesic combinations are recommended for this purpose. 49 Oxygen therapy may be useful early, but once dyspnea and stridor have become life threatening, oxygen therapy alone is rarely of much benefit.…”

“…A light plane of anesthesia is, therefore, important for accurate evaluation of glottis function. 49 Laryngeal inspection should take place as soon as the animal is beginning to lose resistance to opening the mouth. The movement of the arytenoid cartilages and vocal folds should be correlated with respiration.…”

“…55 Surgical widening of the glottic opening is the definitive treatment of canine laryngeal paralysis. 56,57 Three procedures have been advocated: 1) partial laryngectomy (ventriculocordectomy and partial arytenoidectomy) performed either through the mouth or through a ventral laryngotomy incision [49][50][51]57,58 ; 2) castellated (step-like) laryngofissure and vocal cord resection 51,59 ; and 3) unilateral or bilateral arytenoid lateralization. [49][50][51][60][61][62] All surgical procedures have been shown to open the glottis and improve airflow.…”

Sonografische Untersuchung des weichen Gaumens beim Hund

“…In einer Studie von Ginn et al wurde bei 72% der 53 endoskopisch untersuchten brachyzephalen Hunde ein verlängertes Gaumensegel diagnostiziert [11]. Die primäre, kongenitale Hyperplasie wird bei diesen Tieren durch ein chronisches Barotrauma in Folge eines erhöhten negativen Druckes in den Atemwegen zur Überwindung primärer Stenosen verstärkt [4,13,14]. Die Folge der Hyperplasie ist wiederum eine zusätzliche Stenosierung der Atemwege, die zu den lebensgefährlichen Atemfunktionsstörungen, dem sogenannten "brachyzephalen Atemnotsyndrom" beiträgt [4,9].…”