Research Communications of the 27(th) ECVIM-CA Congress: Intercontinental, Saint Julian's, Malta, 14th to 16th September 2017

Disclosures: No disclosures to report. Aspiration-related respiratory syndromes are well recognized in humans. About half of healthy adults aspirate without apparent clinical consequence. Understanding the frequency and severity of reflux and microaspiration in healthy individuals is critical to determining their role in respiratory disease pathogenesis. In dogs, analogous information is lacking. The objective of this pilot study is to use scintigraphic reflux studies to investigate frequency, location, and duration of reflux and aspiration events in healthy dogs. Healthy dogs without aero-digestive symptoms within the preceding 6 months were fed a meal containing (3 mCi) colloidal 99 m-technetium phytate (99mTcP). Time activity curves (TACs) were quantified over the pharynx and three esophageal zones at 5 and 30 min post-ingestion. Static images of the lungs were obtained at 2 and 18 h to evaluate for aspiration. Reflux was characterized by counts exceeding background activity by 200%. Data were reported descriptively as median and range.