Brachycephalic Syndrome in Dogs - Endoscopic Findings in the Airways

Background: Brachycephalic dogs have several abnormalities in the airways, which generate clinical manifestations that impair the quality of life of these animals. Primary alterations promote airflow obstruction and increase intraluminal negative pressure, causing secondary alterations due to a cycle of inflammation with consequent obstruction. With the onset of inflammation and other alterations in the airways, clinical manifestations can be observed, such as snoring, reverse sneezing, coughing, dyspnea, cyanosis, syncope, and vomiting. Endoscopic examination of the airways allows visualization and diagnosis of morphological changes in these animals. This study aimed to evaluate the endoscopic findings of the airways and determine the quantitative and qualitative assessment of the severity of clinical manifestations in 14 dogs with brachycephalic syndrome (BS). Materials, Methods & Results:  Historical and anamnesis data and clinical, respiratory, and digestive manifestations were collected from the owners’ reports. The clinical manifestations were classified as mild, moderate, or severe. All animals were subjected to endoscopy of the airways, and image findings were grouped according to the anatomical site where they were observed, then the abnormalities were correlated with the severity of the clinical manifestations. When comparing the frequency of endoscopic abnormalities with the severity of clinical manifestations, it is interesting to observe that animals with severe disease more frequently presented the following alterations: prolongation and thickening of the soft palate, laryngeal changes, presence of hyperemia, lymphoid hyperplasia and polyps in the nasopharynx, hypoplasia and presence of tracheal secretion and thickening of the dorsal tracheal muscle; bronchial collapse, hypoplasia of the main bronchi and bronchial hyperemia and the presence of aberrant nasal turbinates. Comparison between the means of nonparametric variables was performed using the Mann-Whitney test, with a 5% significance level.  Discussion: A higher frequency of French Bulldog dogs included in the study was observed, probably due to their greater popularity, although any brachycephalic dog may be affected by BS. Considering that nostril stenosis is a congenital alteration, which is usually diagnosed early, and since the animals included in the study were dogs referred for the rhinoplasty procedure the higher frequency of young dogs in the study was not surprising. The results revealed a significant difference in the endoscopic findings with the severity of the clinical manifestations in different variables, such as prolongation and thickening of the soft palate, eversion of the laryngeal saccules, presence of laryngeal inflammation and collapse, presence of polyps or lymphoid hyperplasia in the nasopharynx, thickening of the dorsal muscle of the trachea, polyps in the trachea and hypoplasia in addition to bronchial hyperemia. The larynx was the most affected anatomical site, with alterations present in 92.8% of the evaluated dogs. Based on these findings, it can be concluded that airway obstruction caused by primary alterations can cause secondary alterations, with consequent clinical manifestations in brachycephalic dogs it is possible to suggest that dogs with this syndrome may present severe manifestations of the disease, regardless of age. Furthermore, it can be concluded that in this study, dogs with BS had frequent laryngeal alterations and that alterations in the main bronchi were present in all animals with severe manifestations of the disease. Keywords: airway obstruction, bronchial collapse, endoscopy, larynx.