MANAGEMENT OF TRACHEAL COLLAPSE: SURGERY, STENTS, AND MEDICAL

摘要

Tracheal collapse is a clinical syndrome associated with progressive flattening of the tracheal rings, leading to cough, airflow obstruction, and exercise intolerance. Affected dogs may be minimally symptomatic or even asymptomatic for years [1]. Typically, once clinical signs become significant, the symptoms progress as a result of a cycle of cough- and collapse-induced airway damage, airway epithelial repair and metaplasia, progressive loss of mucociliary clearance function, hyperplasia of the mucus secretory apparatus, progressive airway obstruction, and obstruction-induced clinical signs, including cough. The syndrome is due in part to a progressive softening of the tracheal ring cartilage, a condition known as tracheomalacia. When the cartilage supporting the principal bronchi, lobar bronchi, and segmental bronchi is also involved, the condition is termed tracheobronchomalacia. Bronchomalacia and bronchial collapse can also occur in the absence of tracheal involvement.