Dogs that have brachycephalic airway syndrome frequently have a soft palate that extends into the opening of the trachea thus resulting in an obstruction to breathing. By resecting or removing the back edge of the redundant soft palate, the obstruction can be relieved and breathing can be markedly improved.
This procedure is performed under general anesthesia. The redundant soft-palate tissue is trimmed with scissors. After the tissue has been removed, the resultant wound is carefully sutured using absorbable suture material that does not need to be removed.
This procedure is frequently combined with an alar fold resection.