Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Treatment and survival after blunt trauma lung collapse in 89 dogs
By To, An et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary emergency and critical care (San Antonio, Tex. : 2001)·2025·Department of Emergency and Critical Care, United States·View original on PubMed →
PetCaseFinder translated the abstract of this peer-reviewed paper into plain English so pet owners can read it. We do not publish original research — every detail traces back to the citation above. How we work →
Original publication title: Retrospective Evaluation of Treatment and Survival of Blunt Trauma-Associated Pneumothorax in Dogs: 89 Cases (2018-2022).
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A 5-year-old Labrador was brought in for breathing problems after being hit by a car, which led to a condition called pneumothorax (air in the chest cavity). Out of 89 dogs with similar injuries, many did not need specific treatment, but those who did often had a procedure called thoracocentesis to remove air. The good news is that about 88% of the dogs survived and were able to go home after treatment. If your dog has experienced trauma and shows signs of breathing difficulty, it's important to seek veterinary care quickly.
People also search for: dog breathing problems after trauma · Labrador pneumothorax treatment · dog hit by car recovery
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate and describe therapeutic interventions and survival to discharge associated with blunt trauma-associated pneumothorax (PTX) in dogs and secondarily to analyze the association between the animal trauma triage (ATT) and the modified ATT (ATTnpr) scores and therapeutic interventions and survival to discharge. DESIGN: Retrospective study from 2018 to 2022. SETTING: University teaching hospital and private practice hospital. ANIMALS: Eighty-nine dogs admitted to the hospital had sustained blunt trauma-associated PTX. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Medical records were retrospectively reviewed, and signalment, cause of blunt trauma, PTX-specific therapeutic intervention, length of hospitalization, and survival to discharge were recorded. ATT and ATTnpr scores were assigned to all patients. A total of 37 (42%) dogs received therapeutic intervention for blunt trauma-associated PTX, whereas 52 dogs (58%) received no PTX-specific treatment. Of the 37 dogs that received PTX-specific treatment, 22 (59%) had only thoracocentesis performed, 11 (30%) had thoracostomy tubes placed after thoracocentesis, and 4 (11%) had thoracostomy tubes placed without the previous thoracocentesis. All thoracostomy tubes were placed via a modified Seldinger technique. The median ATT score was 4 (interquartile range [IQR]: 2-5), and the median ATTnpr score was 3 (IQR: 1-4). The ATT score was not associated with any PTX-specific therapeutic intervention. The ATTnpr score was not associated with thoracocentesis but was associated with both thoracostomy tube placement and survival to discharge. The prognosis for dogs with blunt trauma-associated PTX was very good, with 87.6% of dogs surviving to discharge. CONCLUSIONS: Blunt trauma-associated PTX is associated with a high survival to discharge, and most dogs did not require PTX-specific therapeutic intervention. Dogs with higher ATTnpr scores were more likely to require thoracostomy tube placement and were less likely to survive to discharge.
Find similar cases for your pet
PetCaseFinder finds other peer-reviewed reports of pets with the same symptoms, plus a plain-English summary of what was tried across them.
Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41088872/