Endoscopic, transoral, reduction of epiglottic entrapment via wire snare technique.

The research discusses a new transoral technique using a wire snare for reducing instances of epiglottic entrapment in horses. The process, which involved the use of a modified mouth gag and forceps, proved to be effective and minimally invasive in its application.

Methods and Procedures

• The research involved a series of methods carried on eight adult horses. These horses underwent a procedure to mitigate the epiglottic entrapment condition which affects the throat and can impede a horse’s performance.
• The procedure was performed under general anesthesia with the horses having a modified mouth gag placed in the oropharynx to keep the mouth open.
• An endoscope was passed through this gag until there was sufficient visibility of the entrapped epiglottis – the flap of tissue at the base of the tongue that keeps food from going into the windpipe.
• Once the entrapped area was well visualized, bronchoesophageal forceps were used to grasp the entrapping mucosa, pulling it rostrally which means toward the mouth or nose, thereby releasing the epiglottis.
• A custom wire snare was then placed down the bronchoesophageal forceps to encircle the redundant subepiglottic mucosa – excess tissue beneath the epiglottis creating the entrapment. Tension was then applied to the entrapping mucosa using the forceps while the obstetric wire was tightened, effectively excising the redundant mucosa (or aryepiglottic fold).

Results and Conclusions

• The study saw this procedure being performed on eight adult thoroughbred horses, with positive results. None of the horses showed signs of entrapment in follow-up endoscopic evaluations, nor did any suffer complications or performance issues.
• The research concludes that the described technique is a straightforward, competitively priced, and minimally invasive method for resecting, or surgically removing, entrapping subepiglottic mucosa in adult horses.