Ultrasound
BBVH significantly upgraded it's Ultrasound
Imaging Services this year.
The purchase of the Toshiba Nemio 30 has given us some of the highest quality
images available to veterinarians in general or even specialty practice. The
BBVH doctors use ultrasound everyday to aid in animal care and diagnosis. Drs.
Baker and Crumley have attended advanced imaging courses to provide
comprehensive ultrasound services.
- Ultrasound is an imaging technology that allows
veterinarians to look inside the body without surgery. A probe, called a transducer, emits
ultra high frequency sound waves into the body. As these sound waves hit tissues of
different density, reflections of the sound waves are picked up by the transducer and an
image of internal anatomical structures are produced on a video screen.
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abnormal kidney |
normal liver |
cardiac |
This technology enables veterinarians to look inside the
body as never before and has many applications:
- Evaluation of heart disease: The heart can be imaged and
cardiac ultrasound, also called echocardiography, shows a real time motion picture of the
beating heart. Heart function, abnormal fluid accumulations, tumors, birth defects, and
heart valve problems are all readily visualized using echocardiography. By using the doppler function of the machine, abnormal blood flow patterns can be detected and
measured.
- Evaluation of abdominal disorders: The abdominal organs are
readily visualized using ultrasound. The liver, kidneys, pancreas, urinary bladder,
reproductive organs, spleen, gall bladder, internal lymph nodes, prostate gland, and
adrenal glands are among the structures evaluated with ultrasound.
- Eye disorders: The internal structure of the eye can also
be imaged. This is especially useful when tumors are present, or when the eye is so
disease that visual inspection into the eye is compromised.
- Tendon and ligament disorders: The soft tissues of the
musculoskeletal system can also be imaged with ultrasound.
- Reproductive system: This technology is very commonly used
in human medicine to evaluate pregnancy. The same principles apply to veterinary usage of
the machine as well as evaluating reproductive disorders.
- Cancer: Ultrasound is very sensitive at diagnosing internal
tumors of the chest, abdomen, and soft tissue structures of the body.
Ultrasound guided biopsy techniques:
Another application of ultrasound involves using special biopsy needles to collect tissue
samples from various organs and tumors. The ultrasound images the structure, and a needle
can be seen as it penetrates the tissue to be biopsied. The advantage to this procedure is
that it can generally be done under local anesthesia, and is significantly less traumatic
and expensive than surgical biopsy techniques.
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