Ultrasound in animals

Overview

In 2004, in the first historical translational study of focused assessment with sonography for trauma (FAST) from humans to small animals, 101 dogs with severe blunt trauma after being hit by cars were evaluated. The authors reported that intraabdominal injury, specifically, hemoperitoneum, was more common than previously identified (pre-FAST rate of 12% to 23% versus a post-FAST rate of 45%). By imaging the thorax via the subxiphoid site, intrathoracic injury was detected, as well as pleural and pericardial effusions; moreover, proficiency by nonradiologists was documented. Since 2004, the abdominal FAST examination (AFAST) has been modified by naming sites based on target organs rather than external sites and by developing an abdominal fluid score (AFS) as a semiquantitative measure of the volume of effusions. In hemoperitoneum, the AFS was found to predict the anticipated degree of anemia and the need for blood transfusion and emergency laparotomy in dogs. Accordingly, a thoracic FAST examination (TFAST) and a lung survey (Vet BLUE Lung Scan) have been developed. These thoracic and lung ultrasound techniques appeared to be effective in the evaluation of blunt and penetrating trauma inasmuch as nonradiologist veterinarians were able to diagnose thoracic trauma (median time, <3 minutes), including pneumothorax, hemothorax, thoracic wall trauma, pulmonary contusions, and cardiac trauma, and discrimination among various causes of respiratory distress in nontrauma cases was facilitated as well. ^,