Surgical treatment of the oesophagus obstruction in the dog

Abstract

In the present paper 26 cases are shown of thoracic esophagus obstruction in dogs taken to the Department of Surgery and Obstetrics of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Zootechny of São Paulo University. Among the patients treated 69% were Pekingese varying in age from 3 months to 10 years. As to size, 73% were small and 27% medium. The author reviews the literature available on esophageal obstruction and makes comments on the several means of diagnosis as well as on the great number of treatments devised by varies scholars. The topographical anatomy of the area in question was also considered with special care. The author concludes that radiology is indispensable as a complement to the diagnosis of the afection. The use of Chlorpromazine, one miligramme fo r each Kilo of the animal’s weight, allowed the administration of a smaller dosage of anesthetic. The author further demonstrated the practicality of the use of barbiturics of ultrashort duration for the endotracheal intubation and anesthetical induction. The safety of ether as well as pentobarbital sodium (Sodium 5-ethyl-5 ( 1-methylbutyl) barbiturate) was established for the maintenance of anesthesia. Anattomically the approach by the left side was found to be easily feasible and the 5th and 6th intercostal space were the ones most used to reach the obstructed esophageal tract. The vialibity of the method described in the paper was confirmed by the low rate of fatal cases (7,7%).