Temporary palatopexy procedure for brachycephalic obstructive airway crisis in dogs.

Objective: To provide a video tutorial on how to perform a temporary palatopexy in an anesthetized brachycephalic dog.

Animals: Brachycephalic dogs.

Methods: To perform a temporary palatopexy, needle drivers, forceps, intubation equipment, and absorbable suture material are needed. In an anesthetized and ideally intubated patient, buried sutures are placed, tacking the free edge of the soft palate to the junction of the hard and soft palate.

Results: Temporary palatopexy pulls the soft palate out of the airway to improve airflow and manage brachycephalic upper airway crises.

Clinical relevance: Temporary palatopexy can be used for brachycephalic obstructive airway crises in an attempt to avoid prolonged intubation, temporary tracheostomy, emergent palatoplasty, euthanasia, or death. This is not intended to replace permanent palatoplasty but to allow time for stabilization/transfer or delay palatoplasty due to the higher complication rate of emergent palatoplasty.