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Today's VeTerinary PracTice | January/February 2016 | tvpjournal.com imaging essenTiaLs Peer reviewed 112 The hepatic artery branches and intrahepatic bile ducts are not visualized normally. in dogs, the cystic duct and bile duct are normally not visualized; however, in cats the cystic duct and bile duct may be visualized and normally measure 2 to 3 mm in diameter. Fat within the falciform ligament is seen in the near feld, particularly in cats. This fat can be isoechoic to the liver ( Figure 6). distance motion may need to be used along the costal arch on both the right and left side to evaluate the entire liver. in some dogs, an intercostal approach is necessary to evaluate the liver and gallbladder. This is usually the case in deep-chested breeds or dogs with small livers and a barrel-chest conformation. as with all Us examinations, make sure to visualize each organ or structure in 2 imaging planes; rotate the probe 90 degrees to view the liver in transverse plane prior to moving on to the next organ. Ultrasound of the Stomach From the xiphoid position, slide the transducer caudally so that the stomach is in short axis (in transverse section) even though the transducer is still aligned with the long axis of the patient ( Figure 7 ); then evaluate the stomach in its entirety in both long- and short-axis images. When the transducer is swept toward the right side, the pyloroduodenal junction is visualized as the thickened area of the muscularis between the pylorus and proximal duodenum. Figure 6. Long-axis view in a cat where the fat in the falciform ligament (near feld) is slightly hypoechoic relative to the liver (far feld). The arrows indicate the demarcation between the falciform fat (near feld) and the liver parenchyma (far feld). Figure 7. Long-axis image of a transverse section of the body of the stomach in a dog (A) and cat (B). in the cat, the bright submucosa is seen to be hyperechoic due to the fat deposition in this layer (arrow). A B Figure 8. Long-axis image of the spleen in a dog. The spleen is seen in a triangular transverse plane due to its orientation as it courses from the left to the right side of the abdomen. Figure 9. Long-axis image of the spleen in a cat. The spleen is also superfcial but is smaller in the cat. This spleen is relatively hypoechoic to the surrounding fat but, in some cats, it can be isoechoic and, therefore, diffcult to identify.