Published in Scientific Works. Series C. Veterinary Medicine, Vol. LXIX, Issue 1
Written by Seralp UZUN, Iuliana IONASCU, Dragos-Marian DUMITRESCU, Tiberiu Sebastian IANCU, Catalina GEORGESCU, Dumitru MAGALEAS, Radu JERCAU, Georgeta FILIP, Ada IONESCU
Blunt force traumas that are caused by hit-by cars, animal abuse and bite wounds on the thoracic region can end up with flail chest in dogs. Flail chest, is one of the serious injuries with presence of two or more continuous ribs fractured. As a result, a portion of the thoracic wall with fractured ribs moves paradoxically in inspiration and expiration. According to many previous case reports, mortality rate is high in this life-threatening situation. Patients present in emergency with thoracic pain and shortness of breath (SOB). 9 years old, female Shih-Tzu breed dog clinically presented with severe dyspnea, pain and paradoxical movement of the chest on the left side of the thorax. 24 hours after the patient’s stabilization, CT scans revealed loss of the intercostal muscle integrity and 5 ribs fractures on the left thoracic region. After the imagistic certain diagnosis, the dog was taken to reconstructive thoracic surgery.
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