Abdomen Part 1

Question 1

what is the BEST number of views for an abdominal study?

Answer 1

3, both laterals and a VD

Question 2

what are your landmarks for an abdominal radiograph, aka how far cranial and caudal do you have to go?

Answer 2

cranial: the diaphragm
caudal: greater trochanter or even back to the perineum

Question 3

what is a cross table view?

Answer 3

where the dog is in lateral but the beam goes VD through the animal, so basically a VD view but the animal is on it’s side

Question 4

what do we use the spoon view for?

Answer 4

to push the intestines away from the bladder to visualize it better

Question 5

what is the tucked pelvis view for?

Answer 5

allows us to see the caudal pelvic urethra to the distal urethra, moves the femurs out of the way, lets us see that DICK

Question 6

what are 5 causes of decreased serosal detail?

Answer 6

• peritoneal fluid
• inflammation
• decreased intra-abdominal fat
• young animals less than 6 months old (more brown fat with more water content, making it look like fluid)
• carcinomatosis

Question 7

identify the general pathology in this image? If you knew hthis dog had liver failure, what mechanism is most likely?

Answer 7

there is decreased serosal detail. if the liver is failing there will be hypoproteinemia which coud cause peritoneal effusion which is likely what is going on here

Question 8

this dog was found on the side of the road emaciated and not doing well. idtentify the general pathology going on in this image and what the most likely mechanism is

Answer 8

there is decreased serosal detail. this is likely because the dog is thin, has little fat, which will decrease the serosal detail of the abdominal contents

Question 9

identify the pathology here and what 2 things can cause it

Answer 9

there is increased serosal detail
this is either a really fat dog or it is a pneumoabdomen
an increase in air and/or soft tissue will increase serosal detail

Question 10

what are 5 causes of a pneumoabdomen?

Answer 10

• normal after surgery
• perforated intestines like with a FB
• abdominal wall trauma like HBC
• perforated abscess
• gas forming bacteria

Question 11

if you want to see subcutaneous emphysema really well, what view can you do to help see this?

Answer 11

a cross table view

Question 12

what do you see and what are some causes

Answer 12

there is increased serosal detail, which can be a super fat dog, or pneumoabdomen

Question 13

what do you see here and what could cause this?

Answer 13

increased retroperitoneal detail, can see the kidneys really well (more than usual), which can be a pneumoretroperitoneum

Question 14

when evaluating the abdomen, how many quadrants are there?

Answer 14

6!

Question 15

what are some indications for doing a GI workup? in which of these are you likely to find an answer to what is going on?

Answer 15

• chronic vomiting (likely to find an answer)
• palpable abdominal mass (likely to find an answer)
• acute vomiting
• diarhea
• weight loss
• abdominal pain
• lethargy

Question 16

gastric emptying time can vary from

Answer 16

8-24 hours, 8 is more normal and 24 usually means delayed gastric emptying

Question 17

as a general rule, the stomach should be empty in a patient fasted for ___ hours

Answer 17

24

Question 18

how do you measure the gastric axsis?

Answer 18

draw a line perpendicular to the spine around where the stomach is, and the line should be parallel to the ribs

Question 19

why do we like to have BOTH lateral views, left and right, when evaluating the stomach?

Answer 19

the stomach appearance is quite variable and there is usually both gas and fluid in the stomach, so we need both laterals because there will be a shift in gas from the pylorus to the fundus and visa versa.

Question 20

you decide to evaluate the stomach of a dog. which image is left lat and which image is right lat, and how do you know this?? be specific as you look at the radiograph

Answer 20

the image on the left is left lateral: because, you can see the pylorus is full of gas: if the dog is laying on the left side, the cardia is dependent, meaning it will appear as fluid, and the pylorus is non dependent, so the pylorus should be full of air
the image on the right is right lateral because there is gas in the cardia: if the dog is laying on the right, the pylorus is dependent, meaning it will appear as fluid, and the cardia is non dependent, meaning it will be full of gas/air

Question 21

with a foreign body, should you immediately do emergency surgery, or can you send the dog home and retake the radiographs later to see if it has moved?

Answer 21

you can opt to re take radiographs in 1-3 days depending on how the patient is clinically, to see if the foreign body will move at all (and you won’t have to do surgery)

Question 22

the most common instance of gastric dilation is?

Answer 22

food engorgement

Question 23

what is going on here?

Answer 23

gastric dilation, you can see the stomach is full of ingesta and on the VD, the border extends past the costal arch

Question 24

WOT is going on here??

Answer 24

the stomach is full of gas, the esophagus looks dilated and full of air. this is aerophagia (air gulping), sometimes animals do this when they can’t breathe and they try to gulp extra air

Question 25

what is the difference between the appearance of the stomach with gastric dilation vs gastric dilation and volvulus?

Answer 25

gastric dilation: the stomach will be bigger, but the shape will be normal
GDV: the stomach will be big AND it will have an abnormal shape

Question 26

what is the source of air with a GDV?

Answer 26

areophagia, and NOT bacteria

Question 27

gastric distenion can happen without the volvulus part. what can help you differentiate this?

Answer 27

the position of the pylorus

Question 28

with GDV, how does the stomach rotate?

Answer 28

the fundus and greater curvature rotate clockwise and flip ventrally, while the pylorus flips dorsally and to the left

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaAN-6FrPTM

Question 29

what view is best to visualize GDV?

Answer 29

a right lateral, because the pylorus will flip to the left and go dorsally, so on a right lat the gas filled pylorus will be outlined

Question 30

wot

Answer 30

GDV, taken in right lateral

Question 31

wot dis

Answer 31

popeye’s arm, GDV

Question 32

wot dis

Answer 32

popeye’s arm, GDV

Question 33

what is the black arrow indicating?

Answer 33

this is GDV and the arrow is showing the compartmentalization of the stomach

Question 34

with GDV, what organ can “tag along for the ride”? why does this happen?

Answer 34

the spleen, so you can get GDV with splenic torsion. what fun! this happens because the gastrosplenic ligament connects the two so the spleen can get twisted n shiz

Question 35

wot is going on here

Answer 35

GDV with splenic torsion

Question 36

what is gastric pnemotyosis?

Answer 36

when a GDV causes the walls of the stomach to undergo necrosis

Question 37

what is going on here. can this be fixed?

Answer 37

this is a case of GDV, with gastric wall necrosis, called gastric pnemotyosis. the GDV can be fixed with surgery, but the necrotic parts of the stomach wall may also need to be removed

Question 38

are radiographs good for identifying gastric neoplasia?

Answer 38

no! they kinda suck at this. use ultrasound

Question 39

if you were to decide to try to find gastric neoplasia with radiographs, what should you do specifically?

Answer 39

a barium or contrast study

Question 40

true or false: the serosal borders of the small intestine should be visible and smoothly marginated

Answer 40

true

Question 41

how many “populations” of intestine should there be? what do they contain?

Answer 41

2!
the small intestine is one, the colon is the other