A Face Only a Mother Could Love: Anesthetic Considerations for Brachycephalic Breeds
1.0 CE Credit Hour / Veterinarians & Veterinary Technicians Track: Anesthesiology
Overview:
Brachycephalic breed—French bulldogs, pugs, boxers, shih tzus, etc—have a number of “normal abnormalities” concerning the upper airway. With varying degrees of severity, these brachycephalic breeds may have stenotic nares, everted laryngeal saccules, a hypoplastic trachea, and an elongated soft palate. These anatomic malformations can lead to life-threatening situations during premedication, intubation, and recovery. Many of these breeds present to anesthesia for surgical correction of upper airway abnormalities, adding another complication when creating an anesthetic plan. This lecture will cover concerns during premedication/sedation (drug options, pre-oxygenation, restraint), the induction period (laryngeal examinations, intubation, continued oxygenation), intra-operative concerns specific to airway procedures (monitoring, reintubation, intra-operative analgesia), and the recovery period (continued monitoring, extubation, continued oxygenation, post-operative analgesia).
Learning Objectives
- Formulate a safe anesthetic plan for brachycephalic breeds and airway cases--taking into consideration restraint, drug choices, and intra-/post-operative analgesia.
- Understand how to maintain patients during difficult intubation, induction and intra-operative periods.
- Prepare for challenging recovery periods—taking into consideration continued monitoring, extubation, continued oxygenation, and post-operative analgesia.
Katrina Lafferty, BFA, RLAT, CVT, VTS
Katrina Lafferty graduated from DePaul University in Chicago, IL with her BFA in Theatre. She soon realized she had missed the mark in career choices and returned to school to graduate with her degree in Veterinary Technology. She went on to earn her Veterinary Technician Specialty in Anesthesia and Analgesia and her registered lab animal technician certification.
Kate has worked at the University of Wisconsin-Madison since 2005. She was a senior anesthesia nurse in the Anesthesia and Pain Management Department at the school of veterinary medicine until 2016. She moved to a position of head veterinary nurse in the anesthesia and surgery department at the University of Wisconsin National Primate Research Center. After nearly 5 years working with primarily rhesus macaques and marmosets, in 2021 she returned to the anesthesia department at the school of veterinary medicine.
Kate loves all aspects of teaching and is extremely involved in the education of the veterinary community. She has written numerous articles and book chapters and has presented extensively at national and international continuing education conferences.
Kate has anesthetized everything from a 2 day old calf, to a 4 week old kitten, to a 60 year old tortoise, not to mention a veritable menagerie of other species. Her passion is all things related to the anesthetic and analgesic care of exotic animals.
This program is approved for 1.0 hour(s) of continuing education credit in jurisdictions that recognize RACE®-approval.
