Ultrasound-guided biopsy of a bladder mass in a dog
This is an ominous-looking bladder mass in a bitch: trigonal site, heterogeneous echogenicity and bladder wall invasion are all portents of potential malignancy.
Athough a transitional carcinoma looks extremely likely, it would be good to have histological confirmation before making a definitive plan of action.
The obvious issue is that percutaneous needle biopsy carries some risk of seeding:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=vignoli+transitional
Cystoscopy is an option, however, the samples obtained through the small biopsy channel are not always diagnostic.
A minimal-equipment option is the Chappell-Wilkinson method:
Take one soft feeding tube (this is a 10Kg terrier and a 10F tube) and split the tip longitudinally with a sharp implement. This will allow an endoscopic biopsy tool to be pushed through once in situ in the bladder neck:
This is better than just cutting off the end which tends to leave sharp edges that hinder catheter insertion and carry risk of urethral injury.
