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Computed tomographic comparison of esophageal hiatal size in brachycephalic and non‐brachycephalic breed dogs
Author(s) -
Conte Alessandro,
Morabito Simona,
Dennis Ruth,
Murgia Daniela
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
veterinary surgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.652
H-Index - 79
eISSN - 1532-950X
pISSN - 0161-3499
DOI - 10.1111/vsu.13521
Subject(s) - medicine , hiatal hernia , computed tomographic , esophageal hiatus , reflux , regurgitation (circulation) , nuclear medicine , computed tomography , hernia , gastroenterology , surgery , disease
Objective To determine whether an anatomical difference in esophageal hiatus (EH) size exists between brachycephalic and nonbrachycephalic dogs. Study design Retrospective clinical study. Animals Client‐owned dogs (n = 87). Methods Clinical records and images of dogs that underwent computed tomography between June 2015 and September 2018 were reviewed. For the first part of the study, EH and aortic (Ao) cross‐sectional surface areas were measured in brachycephalic (group 1) and nonbrachycephalic dogs of similar body size (<15 kg) without respiratory or gastroesophageal (GE) signs (group 2) by using multiplanar reconstruction. Esophageal hiatus:aortic ratio was calculated. In the second part of the study, absolute EH measurements were also compared in weight‐matched (WM) dogs (8‐10 kg) from groups 1 and 2. Results Mean (±SD) of EH:Ao values for group 1 (8.1 ± 2.8) were higher ( P < .0001) than those for group 2 (3.7 ± 1.1). In addition, EH measurements of 20 WM dogs in group 1 were higher than those of 20 dogs in group 2 ( P < .05). Conclusion Esophageal hiatus cross‐sectional surface area (directly and indirectly measured) in brachycephalic dogs was considerably larger than that in nonbrachycephalic dogs of generally similar body size. Clinical significance Results of this study provide evidence to support the existence of a specific anatomical factor that could likely correlate to functional GE alterations (eg, regurgitation, gastroesophageal reflux, and sliding hiatal hernia) commonly seen in brachycephalic dogs.