Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Cat with tracheal rupture - what to know about treatment
By Lawrence, D T et al.Ā·Published in Journal of feline medicine and surgeryĀ·1999Ā·Veterinary Teaching Hospital, AustraliaĀ·View original on PubMed ā
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Original publication title: Intrathoracic tracheal rupture.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A cat with a tracheal rupture, which is a tear in the windpipe, may not show immediate breathing problems after an injury. In a study of 16 cats, some developed difficulty breathing anywhere from 1 to 28 days after the trauma. X-rays often showed a break in the trachea, sometimes with air trapped between the broken parts. Fortunately, with careful surgery, all cats that underwent treatment recovered well and returned to their normal lives.
People also search for: cat breathing problems after injury Ā· tracheal rupture in cats Ā· cat surgery recovery time
Abstract
This paper reports five new cases of intrathoracic tracheal rupture in cats, and summarizes these cases in conjunction with 11 cases from the literature. Most cats had no obvious respiratory signs at the time of injury, and in half of them the tracheal rupture was the only injury. The interval from trauma to onset of dyspnoea ranged from 1 to 28 days (median 12.5 days). Radiographic findings include loss of continuity of the trachea, often with a gas-filled diverticulum present between separated tracheal rings. With careful attention to surgical technique and anaesthetic management the prognosis for these cats is excellent. All eight of the cats reported in the last 14 years having surgical correction survived and returned to normal. The surgical anatomy, approach and tracheal anastomosis technique is described and recommendations for anaesthetic management are made.
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Search related cases āOriginal publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11919015/