Evaluation of pre- and postoperative clinical signs, endoscopic findings and histomorphology of caudal soft palates in French bulldogs with brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome that underwent elongated soft palate surgery

Abstract

Brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome (BOAS) is frequently seen in brachycephalic dog breeds including Bulldogs, French Bulldogs, and Pugs. Dogs suffering from this syndrome have respiratory difficulties manifested as snoring, inspiratory discomfort, exercise intolerance, panting in most cases and syncope in some. These clinical signs may be a result of several structural abnormalities of the nasal canal, oropharynx, nasopharynx, and trachea such as stenotic nares, elongated soft palate, and everted laryngeal saccules. We studied 12 French bulldogs presenting with BOAS and assessed the abnormalities by physical examination and endoscopy before surgical treatment. Palatoplasty or staphylectomy was performed in all dogs, in addition to the correction of nostril opening and resection of laryngeal saccules for some. Histo-morphology of the excised palates was also investigated. Correlations between the pre-and postoperative clinical signs, endoscopic severity and histo-morphology were evaluated. The surgical outcomes were successful in terms of postoperative signs (P < 0.05). Furthermore, we establish a positive correlation between the edematous epithelium with lamina propria and clinical severity (P = 0.015) and endoscopic presentations (P = 0.037). Based on our results, we propose a thick caudal soft palate with mucosal hyperplasia with its edematous stroma as an important etiologic condition in French bulldogs with BOAS. We highly recommend surgical intervention in dog breeds displaying BOAS. Endoscopic examination is also recommended but non-compulsory.