BY DR. MOHSIN ALI GAZI and RASHID YAHYA NAQASH
Nowadays we are familiarised with a number of imaging techniques & diagnostic modalities that help us in diagnosis & many of these have been adapted for use in animals.
Ultrasound is among the most rapidly advancing imaging techniques that is becoming increasingly important in veterinary practices for precise diagnosis of a disease.
It is a safe diagnostic technique that provides information about insights of internal structures of organs and carries information about any deformity in the form of images.
Ultrasonography at Glance
Ultrasonography (USG) is a well-established, non-invasive, diagnostic imaging technique that provides unique information about the structure of soft tissues & enables the evaluation of the motion pattern of certain organs & structures.
Principle of USG involve use of ultrasonic sound waves to create images of body structures based on the pattern of echoes reflected from the tissues and organs being imaged.
Transducer sends out a beam of sound waves/echo’s into the body, these sound waves get reflected back to the transducer by boundaries between tissues. When these echos hit the tranducer they generate electric signals which are send to USG scanner. Using the speed of sound and time of each echo returned, scanner calculates the distance from the transducer to tissues, and these distances are used to generate two dimensional images of tissues and organs.
A wide range of animal species from large to small and from domestic animals, to wild are being put to USG examination for proper disease diagnostics and planning better treatment regimens.
The profitability of an ultrasound can be maximised through the scanning of various organs like liver, bladder, mammary gland, lungs, & kidneys, musculoskeletal & viscera for various infections & deformities.
It is nowadays possible that even eye examination with ultrasound for staphylomas, retinal detachments, foreign objects, cataracts, tumours, glaucoma, anterior chamber pathology such as hypopion, & many other vision-related problems can be taken care with USG.
Ultrasonography has a wide range of utility related to reproduction assessment and assisted reproduction technologies, physiologic, anatomic, and morphologic studies.
Primarily use of USG for safer pregnancy diagnosis is because of the fact that there is no exposure to ionizing radiation as has been observed with X-ray imaging techniques. Ultrasonography is an excellent tool for safely & accurately guiding a needle into a nodule or mass to ensure proper sampling & an accurate diagnosis.
In addition, the use of USG in abdominocentesis, thoracocentesis, pericardiocentesis, cystocentesis, and biliary centesis with increased safety of each procedure when small volumes of fluid are sampled is reported (Daniel 2006). Moreover ultrasound can be used to gain valuable information about the urogenital system.
The bladder, ureters, & urethra can be examined for stones, thickening of the lumen walls, or mural lesions of the bladder (Gazi et.al 2013). In our routine veterinary clinical practice, cases of ingestion of foreign materials like polythene, nails, pins, balls, metal, glass, wood pieces & other materials by animals come up leading to foreign body syndrome followed by congestive heart failures & finally death if not treated on time. Radiopaque objects can be located by conventional radiographs but radiolucent bodies like wooden splinters are difficult to detect & are usually missed, USG is a highly sensitive & accurate modality in detecting radiolucent foreign bodies that are difficult to be visualised on standard radiographs so it is helpful in identifying the dimensions and depth of the foreign body and recognise the site of the foreign body as part of pre operative surgical planning. It has also been observed that the healing benefits of therapeutic ultrasound could help animals heal better.
Therapeutic ultrasound has also been found effective in treatment of uterine fibroids, to alleviate pain from spread of cancer into the bones (bone metastases), and for various surgical procedures.
Major constrains with USG in wildlife is physical restraint, sedation, or anaesthesia of wild animal which is necessarily required to perform and to facilitate safe examination of animal.
Some species or individuals like mammals, primates, elephants, and rhinoceroses may be trained to allow ultrasonographic examination (Julie et.al 2020) but most of the wild animals like cheetah, leopard, jackals, bears, civets, and other wild species require restraint and sedation.
Conclusion
Ultrasonography examinations have been shown to have no harmful biological effects and is considered a safe procedure for the animal, operator and nearby personnel, without the need for specific safety precautions but effective methods of physical restraint that minimiSe the possibility of physical injury and physiological and psychological stress to animal should be chosen and least amount of restraint in the shortest possible time is necessary for the procedures being undertaken.
Dr. Mohsin Ali Gazi, Veterinary officer, Department of Wildlife Protection Kashmir
Rashid Yahya Naqash, Author is Regional Wildlife Warden Kashmir
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author.
The facts, analysis, assumptions and perspective appearing in the article do not reflect the views of GK.