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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Veterinary Imaging
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2024.1454930

Comparison of tracheal diameter in non-brachycephalic versus brachycephalic dogs using manubrium and thoracic inlet tracheal indexes

Provisionally accepted
Ayman A. Mostafa Ayman A. Mostafa 1,2*Kaitlyn McCutcheon Kaitlyn McCutcheon 3*Clifford R. Berry Clifford R. Berry 4
  • 1 Department of Small Animal Surgery and Radiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cairo University, Giza, Giza, Egypt
  • 2 Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, United States
  • 3 College of Veterinary Medicine, Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, United States
  • 4 Diagnostic Imaging, Department of MBS, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Narrowed tracheal lumen diameter (TLD) in dogs caused by congenital hypoplasia or acquired tracheal stenosis can result in adverse health effects. Standardized tracheal scores calculated from radiographic measurements have been used to assess tracheal diameter however comparisons have not been made to characterize differences in tracheal lumen among breeds.The main objective of this study was to compare tracheal scores at three regions of the trachea among non-brachycephalic dogs, non-bulldog brachycephalic dogs, and bulldogs. Medical records and thoracic radiographs of clinically normal dogs were reviewed. The TLDs of three different tracheal regions (caudal cervical, thoracic inlet, and intrathoracic) were standardized by the manubrium length (ML) and thoracic inlet distance (Ti-D) to calculate the manubrium and thoracic inlet tracheal indexes (M-TI and Ti-TI) at each region. Statistical analysis was used to analyze the differences in tracheal scores among the three breed populations. Overall, M-TI and Ti-TI varied significantly (P< 0.0001) at the three tracheal levels among the three breed populations. Bulldogs and non-bulldog brachycephalic breeds possessed lower (P≤ 0.016) M-TI and Ti-TI than non-brachycephalic breeds at the three tracheal regions, and bulldogs possessed the lowest M-TI and Ti-TI scores at all measured regions. Averaged M-TIs <0.38, <0.34, <0.32 in non-brachycephalic, non-bulldog brachycephalic, and bulldog breeds respectively may indicate tracheal hypoplasia. Utilizing M-TI can be recommended for the assessment of canine TLD however further investigation in dogs with concurrent respiratory diseases is warranted.

    Keywords: caudal cervical, intra-thoracic, Radiography, Tracheal hypoplasia, tracheal lumen diameter

    Received: 26 Jun 2024; Accepted: 30 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Mostafa, McCutcheon and Berry. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Ayman A. Mostafa, Department of Small Animal Surgery and Radiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cairo University, Giza, 12613, Giza, Egypt
    Kaitlyn McCutcheon, College of Veterinary Medicine, Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, CA 91766, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.