Clinical Relevance of Distinguishing Between Three Endoscopy-Based Conditions, Bronchiectasis, Bronchomalacia, and Their Combination in Dogs: A Retrospective Study

Bronchiectasis (BE) and bronchomalacia (BM) are chronic respiratory diseases in dogs, yet their combined occurrence (BEBM) is not well studied. This retrospective study an-alyzed 65 dogs diagnosed via endoscopy with BE, BM, or BEBM (E-BE, E-BM, E-BEBM) to identify clinical and pathological differences and assess how imaging results (radi-ography and computed tomography (CT)) align with endoscopic findings. Clinical symptoms like coughing, dyspnea, and exercise intolerance were similar across all groups, except lung crackles, which were more common in E-BEBM. Inflammation seen during bronchoscopy and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid results, including neutro-phil counts, showed no significant differences between groups. Bacterial infections were present in 15% of dogs with no difference among groups. Diagnostic agreement between radiography and endoscopy was low: 18.1% for E-BE, 10.5% for E-BM, and 38.4% for E-BEBM. CT results matched endoscopic findings in all E-BE cases but only in half of E-BM and 40% of E-BEBM cases. The bronchial-to-arterial ratio, a benchmark for BE diagnosis, did not align with CT findings. Overall, the study found limited clin-ical or pathological differences between BE, BM, and BEBM, and limited concordance between imaging and endoscopic findings, emphasizing the need for further research to clarify potential implications for treatment strategies.