Internal medicine

Lung ultrasound in the diagnosis of presumed pulmonary mycobacteriosis in a cat

Surprisingly, considering the wealth of information on conventional bacterial pneumonia, there is little published on the features of pulmonary TB in people. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2018 Oct; 15(10): 2235. Potential Diagnostic Properties of Chest Ultrasound in Thoracic Tuberculosis—A Systematic Review Francesco Di Gennaro,1,2,† Luigi Pisani,3,4,† Nicola Veronese,5 Damiano Pizzol,6,* Valeria Lippolis,4 Annalisa … Continue reading

17/11/2019 roger cardiology, Internal medicine, ultrasonography

Lung ultrasound: contusions, interstitial syndrome, A, B, C, E, I and Z-lines explored

I reckon lung ultrasound must be one of the most profound developments in veterinary medicine during my career. The facility to diagnose rapidly, and with high degree of confidence, pneumonia, pulmonary oedema, contusions, pneumothorax and neoplasia is a phenomenal advance. Having arrived in our tool-kit in the last 10 years, this is still an evolving field. In this … Continue reading

02/11/2019 roger cardiology, Internal medicine, ultrasonography, Uncategorized

The case against the use of metronidazole in canine canine diarrhoea gains traction

I’ve been uneasy for a while about the drugs we often use in acute vomiting/diarrhoea dogs. Metronidazole being high on the list. Recent evidence supports the contention that metronidazole isn’t necessary. And that’s not taking into account any possible longer-term adverse effects on gut microbiota. Front. Vet. Sci., 04 June 2019 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2019.00163 A Randomized … Continue reading

26/10/2019 roger Internal medicine

Renal infarcts in dogs: a few images

Renal infarcts in cats are common and, in my experience, usually associated with a history of ureteral obstruction. Renal infarcts in dogs are altogether less common. This is the left kidney of a Cocker Spaniel with a history of severe IMHA one year previous: Now, this is a more acute presentation: … Continue reading

19/10/2019 roger Internal medicine, ultrasonography

Sonographic features of Leptospirosis in dogs in the UK

There’s a nice recent article on the subject of ultrasound findings in dogs with lepto: Vet Radiol Ultrasound. 2018 Jan;59(1):98-106. doi: 10.1111/vru.12571. Epub 2017 Nov 1. Prospective evaluation of abdominal ultrasonographic findings in 35 dogs with leptospirosis. Sonet J1, Barthélemy A2, Goy-Thollot I2, Pouzot-Nevoret C2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29094440 by ….but that was in France and, now, … Continue reading

13/10/2019 roger Internal medicine, ultrasonography

Gastropathy caused by hypoadrenocorticism in dogs

I guess we know that hypoadrenocorticism (both ‘typical’ and ‘atypical’) is associated with gastrointestinal signs including ulceration. I’ve not managed to find a completely convincing pathophysiological explanation of the mechanism for this. However, I just wanted to share a couple of sonographic images of the stomach wall in addisonian dogs. They can be really striking. … Continue reading

12/10/2019 roger Internal medicine, ultrasonography

Gabapentin as a sedative/anxiolytic prior to ultrasonography in cats

Gabepentin is an enormously useful drug to facilitate ultrasonography in cats. I’m sure most of you are aware of this by now but it’s worth publicising a little more because, to get best effect, the use of gabapentin needs to be planned in advance of the day of scanning. J Am Vet Med Assoc. … Continue reading

10/10/2019 roger cardiology, Internal medicine, ultrasonography, Uncategorized

Sonographic features of septic arthritis in the dog

This is a nice article from a few years back: BMJ. 2014 May 29;348:g3463. doi: 10.1136/bmj.g3463. Will ultrasound scanners replace the stethoscope? Wittenberg M. https://www.bmj.com/content/348/bmj.g3463 The crux of it being that human medics are finding more and more advantages of using point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) more as part of the physical examination, like a stethoscope, … Continue reading

06/10/2019 roger Internal medicine, ultrasonography

BRAF mutation testing for canine transitional cell carcinoma and prostatic carcinoma

There’s no point fighting against progress. Although this might reduce our sonography workload, I think it’s worth publicising this new urine test for canine bladder/urethra/prostate cancer (TCC or PC) because it looks like a real step forward. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0144170 There is a recent review of practical application of the test here: http://veterinarymedicine.dvm360.com/urine-luck-new-test-canine-bladder-and-prostate-cancer?pageID=2 … Continue reading

28/09/2019 roger Internal medicine, ultrasonography

Influence of prior antibiotic treatment on survival in human cancer patients undergoing immunotherapy

I wrote a blog a little while back on the potential adverse effects of antibiotics other than the obvious concern over the induction of resistance. Long term, cryptic, adverse effects of antibiotic therapy The general drift of which is that we are only just starting to get the first inkling of an idea of the profound … Continue reading

15/09/2019 roger Internal medicine