Treadmill endoscopic findings in 15 racehorses presented for poor performance

摘要

Several upper airway disorders may affect the ability of equine athletes to sustain high speed for a given period of time, and complaints about poor performance may range from a slight increase in racing times up to a dramatic reduction in speed during a competition. Upper airway obstruction may be related to several disorders such as recurrent laryngeal neuropathy (RLN), dorsal displacement of the soft palate (DDSP), epiglottic entrapment, dynamic pharyngeal collapse (DPC) and rostral displacement of the palatopharyngeal arch (RDPA) (Morris and Seeherman, 1990; Kannegieter and Dore, 1995). Although endoscopy at rest may allow one to identify an upper airway disorder in some cases, the presence of an abnormality at rest does not necessarily indicate a clinical problem. On the other hand, the absence of abnormalities at rest does not rule out a dynamic upper airway disorder, which may only be present during strenuous exercise (Lumsden et al., 1995). Thus, when a dynamic upper airway disorder is suspected, or when the clinical significance of an abnormality observed at rest has to be evaluated, it may be necessary to resort to high-speed treadmill endoscopy for a definite diagnosis.