Unrecognized difficult airway management during anesthesia in twobrachycephalic dogs with narrow cricoid cartilage

摘要

Difficulty in airway management during anesthesia was noted in a 10-year-old, castrated,male Pekingese dog and a 13-year-old male French Bulldog. They showed strong resistanceduring tracheal tube insertion through the subglottic lumen. Therefore, the airway wassecured by using a small endotracheal tube or supraglottic airway device. Computedtomography scan revealed a markedly narrower vertical dimension of the cricoid cartilagecompared to that seen in common brachycephalic breeds. Posterior glottis was relativelymore accessible for translaryngeal intubation in the present cases. Our findings showedthat brachycephalic airway syndrome may be associated with narrow cricoid cartilage. Tothe best of our knowledge, this is the first clinical case report of airway managementduring anesthesia in dogs with narrow cricoid cartilage.