Surgical management of cricopharyngeal achalasia in Spaniels results in favorable outcomes, with persistence or recurrence of mild signs documented in some dogs.

OBJECTIVE

To describe clinical presentations, diagnostic findings, surgical treatments, and outcomes for Spaniels with cricopharyngeal achalasia (CPA).

ANIMALS: 18 purebred or mixed-breed Spaniels treated surgically for CPA between 2003 and 2022.

CLINICAL PRESENTATION: Owners most commonly reported dysphagia (n = 13) and coughing when eating or drinking (10). There were 10 males (9 sexually intact, 1 castrated) and 8 sexually intact females. Median age and weight were 6 months (range, 5 to 59 months) and 8.0 kg (range, 0.8 to 22.0 kg), respectively. Median age at onset of clinical signs was 3 months (range, 5 to 6 months; n = 15). Body condition score on a scale from 1 (emaciated) to 5 (obese) was documented for 17 dogs: 13 dogs had a body condition score of 3/5, and 4 had a score of 2/5.

RESULTS

Fluoroscopic barium-swallow esophagography was performed for all dogs, and all had findings consistent with CPA. Dogs underwent cricopharyngeal myectomy (n = 10), cricopharyngeal myectomy and thyropharyngeal myotomy (5), cricopharyngeal myectomy and thyropharyngeal myectomy (2), or cricopharyngeal myotomy alone (1). Seventeen dogs survived to hospital discharge: 11 had immediate complete resolution of signs, 5 had partial resolution, and 1 had no clinical improvement. Clinical signs recurred in 3 dogs after initial cricopharyngeal myectomy.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Differential diagnoses for young dysphagic dogs should include CPA. Our findings suggest that dogs undergoing surgical treatment for CPA have favorable outcomes; however, some dogs in this study had persistence or recurrence of mild clinical signs.