By: Dr. Anne Chauvet.
It’s exciting to be a Veterinarian. Technology, protocols and therapies are evolving at lightening speed widening the scope of help for sick and injured pets. One of the areas that has seen tremendous growth is modality of minimally invasive procedures. As in the human medical field, veterinarians can now perform endoscopies, laparoscopies and an array of stenting procedures, such as heart/vascular and urinary stent placement.
One of the cases that we see frequently is tracheal collapse – a progressive, degenerative disease of predominantly older small and toy-breed dogs (Pomeranian, miniature and toy poodle, Yorkshire Terrier, Chihuahua, Pug). The condition results from decreased strength within the cartilage of the large airway in the throat. Often, it affects the trachea in the neck region or within the chest. As a result, the pet struggles to breathe as its airway is narrowed and blocks the continuous airflow.
Affected animals present with signs ranging from a mild, intermittent “honking” cough and exercise intolerance to severe respiratory distress from dynamic upper airway obstruction. In certain cases, this problem can be fatal.
Until recently, the only way to address this issue was with cough syrups and anti-inflammatory medications. Patients with severe trachea collapse were forced to undergo invasive surgeries to replace the defective tracheal cartilage rings.
With the latest innovations we are able to take care of these collapses with a minimally invasive tactic to stent the whole trachea. Often this is an outpatient procedure keeping anxiety and costs to a much lower level.
Tracheal stenting is a procedure used to re-establish patency using a self-expanding metallic stent (nitinol) which holds the tracheal open through outward radial force. A sterile high tech mixed metal spring loaded tube is placed in the trachea under anesthesia and keeps the trachea open, allowing free breathing.
Tracheal stents are placed using fluoroscopy, and do not require a surgical incision, thus the recovery time is much shorter. The improvement is nearly immediate and the patient can be released home much sooner than after a standard surgery. Most of the patients still cough to some degree right after the stent placement, but the procedure eliminates the likelihood of suffocation due to the trachea collapse. It is truly a life-enhancing and often a life-saving procedure.
In the last year we have done about a dozen stents at CriticalVetCare. We are happy to report that all of our patients recovered beautifully and the procedure was successful. Interested in learning more about minimally invasive procedures? Click here!