Diagnostic ultrasound examination in bovine lameness

Abstract

Besides the classical orthopedic examination, radiography and centesis of diseased synovial or other cavities, the obvious advantages of sonography in the diagnosis of soft tissue disorders were used in 10 clinical cases to improve the diagnosis of orthopedic diseases in cattle. These cattle showed various swellings of the carpus, antebrachium, tarsus, stifle, digital and pelvic region and arthritis, tenosynovitis, bursitis, abscesses and hematomas were observed. The clinical and radio- graphic findings as well as the results of centesis were compared with the sonographic ones. For the ultrasonic examination of bovine limbs, a 7.5 MHz linear-scan or a 5 MHz sector-scan were used. The examination technique and the most significant criteria for ultrasonic diagnostic are described. The ultrasonic findings have produced more information than the radiographic ones when only soft tissues and joint-recesses are affected. As a complimentary tool to the classical examination of locomotory system disorders in cattle, sonography provides accurate preoperative details of the extent and character of fluid accumulations and soft tissue swellings (edema, hemorrhage, synovial fluid, purulent exudation, coagulated fibrin masses); it helps to differentiate rapidly and on a noninvasive basis between affected structures and any subtile defects in neighboring tissues, it enables a more accurate centesis of evident fluid filled areas of synovial cavities or other swellings and reveals much more information than often insufficiently depicted by radiographs.