Abdomen Part 1 Flashcards
what is the BEST number of views for an abdominal study?
3, both laterals and a VD
what are your landmarks for an abdominal radiograph, aka how far cranial and caudal do you have to go?
cranial: the diaphragm
caudal: greater trochanter or even back to the perineum
what is a cross table view?
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
what do we use the spoon view for?
to push the intestines away from the bladder to visualize it better
what is the tucked pelvis view for?
allows us to see the caudal pelvic urethra to the distal urethra, moves the femurs out of the way, lets us see that DICK
what are 5 causes of decreased serosal detail?
- 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
identify the general pathology in this image? If you knew hthis dog had liver failure, what mechanism is most likely?
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
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
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
identify the pathology here and what 2 things can cause it
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
what are 5 causes of a pneumoabdomen?
- normal after surgery
- perforated intestines like with a FB
- abdominal wall trauma like HBC
- perforated abscess
- gas forming bacteria
if you want to see subcutaneous emphysema really well, what view can you do to help see this?
a cross table view
what do you see and what are some causes
there is increased serosal detail, which can be a super fat dog, or pneumoabdomen
what do you see here and what could cause this?
increased retroperitoneal detail, can see the kidneys really well (more than usual), which can be a pneumoretroperitoneum
when evaluating the abdomen, how many quadrants are there?
6!
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?
- chronic vomiting (likely to find an answer)
- palpable abdominal mass (likely to find an answer)
- acute vomiting
- diarhea
- weight loss
- abdominal pain
- lethargy
gastric emptying time can vary from
8-24 hours, 8 is more normal and 24 usually means delayed gastric emptying
as a general rule, the stomach should be empty in a patient fasted for ___ hours
24
how do you measure the gastric axsis?
draw a line perpendicular to the spine around where the stomach is, and the line should be parallel to the ribs
why do we like to have BOTH lateral views, left and right, when evaluating the stomach?
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.
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
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
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?
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)
the most common instance of gastric dilation is?
food engorgement
what is going on here?
gastric dilation, you can see the stomach is full of ingesta and on the VD, the border extends past the costal arch
WOT is going on here??
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
what is the difference between the appearance of the stomach with gastric dilation vs gastric dilation and volvulus?
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
what is the source of air with a GDV?
areophagia, and NOT bacteria
gastric distenion can happen without the volvulus part. what can help you differentiate this?
the position of the pylorus
with GDV, how does the stomach rotate?
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
what view is best to visualize GDV?
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
wot
GDV, taken in right lateral
wot dis
popeye’s arm, GDV
wot dis
popeye’s arm, GDV
what is the black arrow indicating?
this is GDV and the arrow is showing the compartmentalization of the stomach
with GDV, what organ can “tag along for the ride”? why does this happen?
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
wot is going on here
GDV with splenic torsion
what is gastric pnemotyosis?
when a GDV causes the walls of the stomach to undergo necrosis
what is going on here. can this be fixed?
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
are radiographs good for identifying gastric neoplasia?
no! they kinda suck at this. use ultrasound
if you were to decide to try to find gastric neoplasia with radiographs, what should you do specifically?
a barium or contrast study
true or false: the serosal borders of the small intestine should be visible and smoothly marginated
true
how many “populations” of intestine should there be? what do they contain?
2!
the small intestine is one, the colon is the other
