TRANSENDOSCOPIC MANAGEMENT OF GUTTURAL PO UCH TYMPANY IN FOALS

Guttural pouch tympany is a disease in foals, whim leads to the disten sion of one or both guttural pouches, due to a deformity of the guttur al pouch flap area. Clinically this disease manifests through a swelli ng of the parotic region and in some cases through stridores, dysphagi a and nasal discharge, The diagnosis is verified by endoscopy and x-ra y examination. In the past, surgical therapy included the fenestration of the medial guttural pouch wall via a lateral skin approach and/or the resection of a mucosal fold. These methods, like the transendoscop ical cauterisation, require general anaesthesia. This paper describes a surgical method of transendoscopical Neodym-YAG-Laser use under seda tion. Using this technique a flexible bare-fiber is advanced via the c hannel of the endoscope, which is placed in the guttural pouch. With t he laser the media guttural pouch wall is fenestrated. Additionally a part of the guttural pouch flap within the pouch itself is resected. F our cases, which were presented at the Klinik fur Pferde of the Tierar ztliche Hochschule Hannover in 1993 and 1994, are described. All four cases were treated successfully with the laser technique mentioned abo ve.