Digestive disorders associated with the chronic obstructive respiratory syndrome of brachycephalic dogs

This study describes the functional or organic abnormalities of the upper digestive tract observed in Brachycephalic dogs suffering from chronic obstructive respiratory syndrome (CORS) and digestive disorders. The population that was studied includes thirty dogs (22 males, 8 females), 28 months of age on the average, belonging to 4 different breeds (22 French Bulldogs, 5 English Bulldogs, 2 Pugs, 1 Pekingese). Endoscopic examination of the upper respiratory airways confirmed the existence of anatomical abnormalities responsible for ORS in the 30 dogs of the study. Among these abnormalities, an hypertrophy and excessive elongation of the soft palate were constant in all dogs, associated with an eversion of the laryngeal ventricles in 23 cases, nostrils stenosis in 21 cases, laryngeal collapse (11 cases) and tracheal hypoplasia in 5 cases. When examining their upper digestive tract endoscopically, 13 dogs showed a reflux esophagitis at stage I, 9 at stage II, 2 at stage III and 1 at stage IV compounded by a stenosis of the esophagus in 1 case. Sixteen cases of hiatal hernia by sliding were observed. In 13 cases, gastroscopic examination showed an abnormal hyperplasia of the antral mucosa clearly associated in 10 cases with a duodenogastric reflux. This hypertrophic antropathy was compounded in 6 dogs of the French Bulldog breed by a pyloric hypertrophic stenosis. Five dogs showed no functional or organic abnormalities of the upper digestive tract. Corrective surgery on the respiratory airways was practiced in 20 dogs. This surgery on the respiratory airways was complemented with pyloric surgery (pyloroplasty) in the 6 dogs that showed pyloric stenosis. Nineteen dogs that had surgery on their upper respiratory airways showed marked clinical respiratory and digestive improvement associated with marked improvement in the digestive abnormalities confirmed by a control endoscopy.