TDK conference 2019

Related to two previous thesis about dogs suffering in brachycephalic airway obstuctive syndrome ( BAOS), our hypotesis was that, a simplified surgical treatment ( rhinotomy and folded flap palatoplasty) ensures a long-term ,not worse quality of life than a complex technique ( rhinotomy, folded flap palatoplasty, tonsillectomy and the excision of everted laryngeal sacculi).

At the Clinic of Surgery and Ophtalmology at the University of Veterinary Medicine we examined and treated 12 patients( 7 french bulldogs, 1 boston terrier, 1 english bulldog, 3 pugs ) between 2018 and 2019.

From the previous thesises, we could follow 43 other dogs’ clinical results.

In the previous studies, 26 dogs were treated with the complex method between 2013 and 2015. 17 dogs were operated by the technique of the simplified surgery between 2015 and 2017. All in one we used the modern method on 29 patients.

Patients’ clinical status was categorised according to the clinical signs they showed preoperatively, then 2 and 6 weeks after the surgery. Accorging to Poncet formula, we ranked the dogs in 3 grades. (Grade I to III, from mild to severe). We could categorise our patients according to the anamnesis, that we discussed with the owners, furthermore we used laryngoscopy, for staging laryngeal collapse, soft palate elongation and tonsillar enlargement from Grade I to III as well.

According to the modern method, we applied Folded Flap Palatoplasty correcting the elongation of the soft palate and horisontal wedge resection for widening the stenotic nares. With this simplified method we did not perform tonsillectomy and we did not excise the everted laryngeal sacculi.

During our research we contacted the owners of the treated dogs, so we could obtain long-term results.

After performing the complex method, from the preoperative Grade I, II and III , 81,25 % of the dogs were pronounced to be Grade I.

Among the 29 patients that were treated with the simplified technique, 17 were categorised into Grade II and 12 into Grade III before the surgery. After the operation, 72,4% of the dog showed improvement on the second week, 86,2% on the sixth week.