{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,15]],"date-time":"2025-08-15T00:03:39Z","timestamp":1755216219537,"version":"3.43.0"},"reference-count":28,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,4]],"date-time":"2025-08-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1754265600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Vet. Sci."],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title><jats:p>Relative macroglossia may contribute to brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome, the pathologic disorder associated with respiratory dysfunction commonly seen in brachycephalic dogs. Recent studies on brachycephalic dogs have demonstrated a relative macroglossia along with reduced air volume in the upper airway compared to non-brachycephalic dogs. Tongue reduction glossectomy may be a surgical option to address upper airway obstruction secondary to macroglossia. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of a caudal midline glossectomy (CMG) on tongue volume and upper airway cross-sectional areas.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>Cadaveric brachycephalic dogs (<jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\u202f=\u202f6) were positioned with the tongue retracted and jaw nearly closed. Computed tomography was performed to evaluate tongue volume and cross-sectional areas of tongue, oropharynx, palatal soft tissue and nasopharynx at two levels, the caudal aspect of the hard palate and pterygoid hamulae. A standardized CMG was performed. Positioning and CT scan were repeated.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>CMG resulted in a 20% decrease in tongue volume (from 87,546\u202f\u00b1\u202f21,121 to 70,259\u202f\u00b1\u202f17,586 mm<jats:sup>3<\/jats:sup>; <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.01). CMG resulted in a 20 to 25% decrease in cross-sectional area of the tongue at both hard palate (from 1662\u202f\u00b1\u202f311 to 1339\u202f\u00b1\u202f254 mm<jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup>; <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.01) and pterygoid hamulae (from 1425\u202f\u00b1\u202f222 to 1041\u202f\u00b1\u202f150 mm<jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup>; <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.01), and 2 to 3-fold increase in cross-sectional area of the oropharynx at both hard palate (from 226\u202f\u00b1\u202f68 to 595\u202f\u00b1\u202f138 mm<jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup>; <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.01) and pterygoid hamulae (from 110\u202f\u00b1\u202f64 to 351\u202f\u00b1\u202f37 mm<jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup>; <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.01).<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title><jats:p>This study provides preliminary guidelines toward the feasibility and potential benefit of CMG in select cases of macroglossia-associated upper airway obstruction.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fvets.2025.1607711","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,4]],"date-time":"2025-08-04T04:10:15Z","timestamp":1754280615000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Evaluation of a caudal midline glossectomy on tongue volume and upper airway cross-sectional areas in brachycephalic dogs: a cadaveric study"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Valeria T.","family":"Colberg","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Raymond K.","family":"Kudej","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Nicole","family":"Moyer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Joshua A.","family":"Peters","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"William M.","family":"Karlin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1573","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cub.2017.04.057","article-title":"Canine Brachycephaly is associated with a retrotransposon-mediated Missplicing of SMOC2","volume":"27","author":"Marchant","year":"2017","journal-title":"Curr Biol"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"109","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jcpa.2020.02.008","article-title":"Canine brachycephaly: anatomy, pathology, genetics and welfare","volume":"176","author":"Ekenstedt","year":"2020","journal-title":"J Comp Pathol"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"10","DOI":"10.1186\/s40575-015-0023-8","article-title":"Epidemiological 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