Today's Veterinary Practice

NOV-DEC 2015

Today's Veterinary Practice provides comprehensive information to keep every small animal practitioner up to date on companion animal medicine and surgery as well as practice building and management.

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Today's VeTerinary PracTice | november/december 2015 | tvpjournal.com small animal abdominal UlTrasonograPhy Peer reviewed 22 Abdominal ultrasonography is a noninvasive technique that provides cross-sectional anatomy of the organs of the abdomen based on differences in acoustic impedance. The frst 2 articles in this series, available at tvpjournal.com, have discussed: • Basics of Ultrasound Transducers & Image Formation (January/February 2015) • Physical Principles of Artifacts & False Assumptions (May/June 2015). Performing a diagnostic ultrasound (US) evaluation requires attention to detail, and this article will focus on the factors that affect the process of consistently obtaining optimal US scans. To truly understand the process of image optimization, the sonographer must know: • Basic instrumentation of the US machine • Physical properties of ultrasonography • Potential interactions in the patient. ULTRASOUND MACHINE CONTROLS Basic Controls There are 7 basic controls the sonographer must understand when doing an abdominal US examination (Figure 1): 1. On/off or power switch 2. Probe adjustment 3. Frequency adjustment 4. Depth adjustment 5. Focal zone adjustment 6. Gain adjustment + time gain compensation (TGC) or depth gain compensation (DGC) 7. Image contrast settings (ie, dynamic range or log compression). Additional Controls US machines may also feature other control options, including B or gray maps, Doppler settings, persistence, line density, and advanced image manipulation and diagnostic capabilities (eg, harmonics and image compounding). These controls help with overall image quality but may not affect the image as much as the basic controls. Small animal abdominal UltraSonography Part 3: Basics of Imaging Optimization—How to Obtain High-Quality Scans Danielle Mauragis, AS, CVT, and Clifford R. Berry, DVM, Diplomate ACVR University of Florida Welcome to our newest series of articles on small animal abdominal ultrasonography. The frst 4 articles in the series are providing an overview on the basic principles of ultrasonography, while further articles will review scanning principles for each organ/system in the abdomen. these articles will also review the normal sonographic appearance of the abdomen's organs and systems and common abnormalities seen during ultrasound examination. FIGURE 1. Display panel of a Prieus (Hitachi-Aloka. com) US machine. The controls are arranged ergonomically; depth (white arrow) and focal zone (black arrow) are critical for image optimization.

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