Bronchoscopy of the horse.

This research paper discusses the examination of the endobronchial anatomy of horses, using a videoendoscope, and refines a pre-existing system for identifying airways in horses during bronchoscopy.

Study Overview

• The study involves the examination of the lung specimens of 12 horses and 12 healthy, sedated horses. The tool used for this process is a 200 cm long, 9.5 mm diameter videoendoscope.
• The primary aim is to refine a system for identifying horse airways during bronchoscopy. For their research, the team modifies the Amis and McKiernan nomenclature system, a previous method used for the identification of airways.

Identification of Airways

• The study identifies lobar bronchi based on the side of the bronchial tree where they are found and the order in which they originated from the primary bronchus. This results in newly defined terms such as RB1, RB2, and RB3, referring to the right cranial lobar bronchus. Equally, on the left side, LB1 and LB2 are defined to signify the left cranial lobar bronchus and the left caudal lobar bronchus, respectively.
• Segmental bronchi, which stem from lobar bronchi, are identified by consecutive numbers in their order of origination.

Denotation System

• The study also presents a denotation system for the direction of the segmental bronchus. Here, capital letters denote the direction, with D standing for dorsal, V for ventral, L for lateral, M for medial, R for rostral, and C for caudal.
• Subsegmental bronchi, branches from segmental bronchi, are identified according to their order of origination from the segmental bronchi, using lowercase letters. An example of this would be ‘RB2, 1V, a’ or ‘RB2, 1V, aV’.
• For any further branching of the subsegmental bronchi, these branches are numbered consecutively by their order of origination, as illustrated with ‘RB2, 1V, aV, 1D’.

Implications of the Study

• The study thus builds on and refines a system for identifying horse airways during bronchoscopy, thereby aiding practitioners in diagnosing and treating bronchial issues in horses more efficiently.
• The establishment of a more detailed standard system can enhance the accuracy and specificity in identifying the bronchi, better serving voeterinary medicine and research.