Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Breathing problems in French Bulldogs measured by non-invasive test
By Liu, Nai-Chieh et al.·Published in PloS one·2015·Department of Veterinary Medicine, United Kingdom·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Characterisation of Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome in French Bulldogs Using Whole-Body Barometric Plethysmography.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of 89 French Bulldogs was tested for breathing problems related to Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome (BOAS), a common issue in flat-faced breeds. Using a non-invasive method called whole-body barometric plethysmography, researchers measured how well these dogs breathed during rest and after exercise. They found that many owners didn’t realize their dogs had significant breathing issues, even when tests showed they did. The study developed a reliable way to classify dogs as having BOAS or not, which could help vets diagnose and manage this condition more effectively.
People also search for: French Bulldog breathing problems · BOAS treatment for dogs · how to help my dog breathe better
Abstract
Brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome (BOAS) is an important health and welfare problem in several popular dog breeds. Whole-body barometric plethysmography (WBBP) is a non-invasive method that allows safe and repeated quantitative measurements of respiratory cycles on unsedated dogs. Here respiratory flow traces in French bulldogs from the pet population were characterised using WBBP, and a computational application was developed to recognise affected animals. Eighty-nine French bulldogs and twenty non-brachycephalic controls underwent WBBP testing. A respiratory functional grading system was used on each dog based on respiratory signs (i.e. respiratory noise, effort, etc.) before and after exercise. For development of an objective BOAS classifier, functional Grades 0 and I were considered to have insignificant clinical signs (termed here BOAS-) and Grades II and III to have significant signs (termed here BOAS+). A comparison between owner-perception of BOAS and functional grading revealed that 60 % of owners failed to recognise BOAS in dogs that graded BOAS+ in this study.WBBP flow traces were found to be significantly different between non-brachycephalic controls and Grade 0 French bulldogs; BOAS- and BOAS+ French bulldogs. A classifier was developed using quadratic discriminant analysis of the respiratory parameters to distinguish BOAS- and BOAS + French bulldogs, and a BOAS Index was calculated for each dog. A cut-off value of the BOAS Index was selected based on a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the classifier on the training group (n=69) were 0.97, 0.93, 0.95, and 0.97, respectively. The classifier was validated using a test group of French bulldogs (n=20) with an accuracy of 0.95. WBBP offers objective screening for the diagnosis of BOAS in French Bulldogs. The technique may be applied to other brachycephalic breeds affected by BOAS, and possibly to other respiratory disease in dogs.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26079684/