ultrasonography

Should we be checking coagulation before ultrasound-guided biopsies?

This is a common and important issue. Contrary to what one might think, the evidence from human medicine is that coagulation screening tests are unnecessary prior to general surgery unless there is a history of coagulopathy or other predisposition. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3190281 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=eika+havig To quote the latter: ‘The study demonstrated complete lack of correlation between the preoperative … Continue reading

28/02/2016 roger Internal medicine, ultrasonography, Uncategorized

Gastrointestinal foreign bodies

Interesting cases from this week, happily doing well at present. The first, a cat with acute vomiting and profound malaise: The first two seconds of the examination. Don’t want to jump to any conclusions but a stomach dilated to that extent raises the prospect of mechanical or functional GI obstruction. And there’s some ‘stuff’ in … Continue reading

27/02/2016 roger Internal medicine, ultrasonography, Uncategorized

Possible tricuspid valve infective endocarditis in a Springer Spaniel

Infective endocarditis is a challenge both diagnostically and therapeutically. Because the heart valves are not readily accessible for sampling and clinical signs/clinical pathology are highly variable, many of the cases which form the published literature on the subject were confirmed post mortem. Many of those reported in the largest case series by Sykes et al. … Continue reading

21/02/2016 roger cardiology, Internal medicine, ultrasonography

Intestinal volvulus in a German Shepherd Dog

In my experience these can be outwardly quite deceptive. The degree of abdominal distention may not be pronounced. This patient presented as an ‘acute abdomen’ with haematemesis. On ultrasonography, the stomach was mildly dilated with fluid but normally-positioned and not gas-filled. Whereas dogs with small intestinal obstruction due to foreign bodies, for example, the stomach … Continue reading

09/01/2016 roger Internal medicine, ultrasonography, Uncategorized

Gallbladder mucocoele complications

Gallbladder mucocoeles are often a decision-making dilemma. Frequently they are incidental findings. Very occasionally they are secondary to hypothyroidism -in which case resolution with medical treatment is reported: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18518811 Otherwise, it’s a matter of surgery or wait and hope for the best. Personally I usually advise surgery if there are compatible clinical signs. If the … Continue reading

03/01/2016 roger Internal medicine, ultrasonography, Uncategorized

Feline ureteral calculi

Since the first published description of feline ureteral calculi in 1991 we’ve reached the point where it has been described as the commonest cause of azotaemia in cats. If you prospectively scan a lot of azotaemic or non-specifically poorly cats a significant proportion will have ureteral calculi. Typical acute cases are poorly cats with abdominal … Continue reading

13/12/2015 roger Internal medicine, ultrasonography, Uncategorized

Hepatocutaneous syndrome liver ultrasonography

Hepatocutaneous syndrome is quite a complex subject -these are just a couple of images from this poor chap with severe footpad fissuring and crusting plus characteristic liver changes on ultrasonography… Continue reading

04/12/2015 roger dermatology, Internal medicine, ultrasonography

Intravesical ureterocoele in an adult Labrador

Advanced warning that this article includes one of the most amazing ultrasound images I’ve seen in some time. The patient is an 8 y.o. entire female Labrador presenting with acute malaise and pyrexa 40.5C. I’m a firm believer in the maxim that any dog with a rectal temperature >39.5C deserves survey ultrasonography of chest and … Continue reading

24/11/2015 roger Internal medicine, ultrasonography

Feline hypoadrenocorticism

This is an 11 year-old female DSH with a history of progressive vague malaise, inappetence, weight loss and muscle weakness. On physical examination, striking features were profound muscle weakness, skin tenting and non-palpable femoral pulses. She was not bradycardic. Blood biochemistry: urea 13.9 mmol/l (ref 3-10) creatinine 210 umol/l (ref <180) total calcium 3.17 (ref … Continue reading

23/11/2015 roger Internal medicine, ultrasonography, Uncategorized