Upper Resp Surgery Flashcards
Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome -Pathophysiology
- Congenital malformation
- Skull bones normal width but shortened length
> but still have all the same soft tissue!
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Bony changes > Soft tissue excess > Upper airway obstruction
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“Breathing through a straw”
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increased Airway resistance =
increased Negative P needed to maintain airflow
primary and secondary issues associated with BOAS
Primary:
- Stenotic nares
- Elongated soft palate
- Hypoplastic trachea
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Secondary:
- Everted laryngeal saccules
- Tonsillar eversion
- Laryngeal Collapse
why are brachycephalics more susceptible to hiatal hernias? what outward clinical signs can be associated? significance?
- dog is lip smacking
- they have been gasping for air their whole life, negative pressure sucks stomach into chest
> assume most frenchies have it
> but they dont all need surgery for it - creates a lot of silent regurgitation, which is where this lip smacking may come from
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Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome -Possible GI signs
GI signs - regurgitation or vomiting
> Hiatal hernia
> Aerophagia
> Pyloric outflow
Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome
-Pathophysiology of how laryngeal edema can arise
- Elongated soft palate, stenotic nares
> Increased inspiratory pressure
> Eversion of laryngeal saccules, soft palate stretching
> Further increased inspiratory pressure
> Laryngeal edema, eventual collapse
stages of laryngeal collapse
Stage I:
Eversion of laryngeal saccules without paradoxical collapse or corniculate or cuneiform processes
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Stage II:
Medial displacement of the cuneiform processes during inspiration
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Stage III:
Collapse or the corniculate processes with loss of the dorsal arch of the rim
Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome
-Emergency Management
- Oxygen supplementation
- Sedation (acepromazine 0.02-0.05 mg/kg IV or IM)
- Cooling
- Calm environment
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If no improvement in a few minutes: - Intubation
- Temporary tracheostomy
Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome -Which components can be addressed surgically? which cannot?
Can be addressed surgically:
- Elongated soft palate
- Stenotic nares
- Everted laryngeal saccules
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Cannot be:
- Hypoplastic trachea
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- Laryngeal collapse?- dont want it to get to this point
- difficult as complete tracheostomy is the only option
Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome -Respiratory signs
- Stertor
- Stridor
- “Choking” / Gagging
- Collapse
Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome
-Diagnosis
Sedated / light plane of anesthesia airway exam
> no need to do this unless planning surgery
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Intubate
+/- Bloodwork
Thoracic radiographs
Head CT
Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome
-Surgical management
- who is a candidate?
- risks?
- Dogs in moderate to severe respiratory distress and those with exercise intolerance are candidates
<><><><> - BEWARE! Mortality from retrospective studies is 3.2-7%
- Inform owners fully of complications
- MY OPINION: Do not perform BOAS surgery if 24 hour care not possible
Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome
- surgical approach
- Alar fold vestibuloplasty (NARES) FIRST
- Intra-oral procedures
> Tonsillectomy
> Folded flap palatoplasty…or aggressive palate surgery
> Sacculectomy
Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome -Stenotic nares
Should I address stenotic nares at the time of OVH / neuter?
> wont necessarily hurt, but not going to save it from further surgery down the road… this is not the only component of BOAS, so wont necessarily be effective
surgical correction techniques for stenotic nares, considerations
- Vertical wedge resection
> #11 blade
> Cotton-tipped applicators and/or gauze
> Nasal cartilage highly vascular!
> big chunk of tissue further back that we are not addressing with the vertical wedge
<><> - Alar Fold Vestibuloplasty
> take much larger piece, going deeper
should we do a tonsilectomy for BOAS cases? why?
amit does it for most cases - any tissue that could get sucked into airway could be an issue
-Elongated soft palate
- how do we surgically correct this?
Traditional landmark:
- Soft palate should not extend beyond tip of epiglottis
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“cut the palate to the tip of the epiglottis” - is what we see in textbooks, but this can be hard to see with intubation
- amit has realized that this palate needs to be totally open…
> we need to be very very aggressive > you cannot take to much of it!!!!
- the cranial aspect of the tonsil is a fair place to take it to