Larynx Trauma and Hyoid Bone Fracture after Bite Injury in Dog: Case Report

George Manchi,Silke Stein,Leo Brunnberg,Mathias M Brunnberg,Muhammad Shahid,Ahmad Al Aiyan

doi:10.3389/fvets.2016.00064

Abstract

An 8-year-old male Jack Russell crossbreed dog was admitted to our hospital with dyspnea and shock following a dog-bite injury on the ventral neck. Radiographs revealed subcutaneous emphysema and bilateral thyrohyoid bone fractures. Intraoperatively, rupture of both sternohyoid muscles, both hyoepiglotticus muscles, both thyrohyoid muscles, and a partial cranial rupture of the superficial sphincter colli muscle were detected. Part of the epiglottis was detached from the thyroid cartilage. The patient’s severed muscles and torn epiglottis were reattached using a simple interrupted suture pattern. Hyoepiglotticus muscles could not be identified. The bilateral thyrohyoid bone fractures were repaired with intraosseous wire suture. A temporary tracheostomy tube and an esophageal feeding tube were placed postoperatively. The dog was discharged after 8 days, re-examined at 2 and 6 months and laryngeal and pharyngeal function were evaluated as normal. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first report of a dog that presented with laryngeal trauma with hyoid bone fracture and acute dyspnea that underwent surgical treatment resulting in an acceptable outcome.

Highlights

Reports about laryngeal trauma are rare in the literature [1,2,3,4,5]
Clinical signs vary with the severity of laryngeal trauma; dyspnea and stridor have been documented in dogs [2, 3]
Surgical exploration is required if injury to deeper structures is suspected in these bite wounds [5]

Summary

Introduction

Reports about laryngeal trauma are rare in the literature [1,2,3,4,5]. Reported causes of laryngeal trauma in dogs include cervical bite injuries [1, 5, 6], road traffic accidents [3], and iatrogenic causes [2, 7, 8].Clinical signs vary with the severity of laryngeal trauma; dyspnea and stridor have been documented in dogs [2, 3]. Reports about laryngeal trauma are rare in the literature [1,2,3,4,5]. Reported causes of laryngeal trauma in dogs include cervical bite injuries [1, 5, 6], road traffic accidents [3], and iatrogenic causes [2, 7, 8]. Clinical signs vary with the severity of laryngeal trauma; dyspnea and stridor have been documented in dogs [2, 3]. As a brief functional description, the hyoid bones hold the tongue and the larynx in position [15]. The tip of the epiglottis is pulled caudally in order to close off the rima glottidis (Figure 2) [15]

Results

Discussion

Conclusion