The impact of technology on the study of equine upper airway surgery

Abstract

The objective of this review is to emphasize the importance that technology has played in the diagnosis and choice of surgical treatment of upper airway disorders. We have reviewed the history of the technological advances that have allowed a progression from clinical opinion in the 1970s to objective and accurate determination of upper airway obstructions and their most appropriate surgical correction by the turn of this century. As a result, we have drawn conclusions as to the most effective surgical procedures that should be considered when treating a horse for performance limiting conditions as well as when the treatment is aimed at reducing noise production. The clinical relevance of these technological advances is that partial arytenoidedomy has become the accepted surgical treatment for correction of arytenoid chondritis and, although there are a myriad of surgical procedures aimed at correcting recurrent laryngeal neuropathy (laryngeal hemiplegia), laryngoplasty and laryngeal reinnervation are considered the most successful surgical procedures for performance correction, while bilateral ventriculocordectomy is most effective in eliminating noise production made by this airway obstruction.