No Such Thing As An 'Old Dog Lung'

From Episode 1281 on the Medicine Stream. With Belinda Hopper

You know when you look at lung rads of an old dog, and things look a bit weird, we tend to say: ‘Oh, it’s just an old dog lung.’ Well, here’s the bad news: Radiologist Dr Belinda Hopper said that that’s not a thing!

• The studies that gave us the ‘old dog lung’ theory were from the 70’s! BUT…

• Recent studies comparing CT scans of older dogs’ (aged over 9 years) lungs with younger dogs (under five years) showed minimal differences.

“I suspect that those 'old dog changes' they saw in the 70's probably weren't due to age. They were due to chronic inflammation.” So what does it mean for you when you think something looks off? Dr Belinda says that:

• You’re most likely over-interpreting normal variation. Or

• There’s an actual pathology that you need to investigate.

• Oh, and as an aside - those older terriers with the chronic lung fibrosis, like the old Westies - you won’t see ANY radiological changes in their lungs!

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