Ultrasound
Machine Means Better Diagnostic Capabilities
Greens Fork Animal Hospital
has an ultrasound machine to help us improve our
diagnostic capabilities for your pet's illnesses. Traditionally,
veterinarians have relied upon their personal palpation expertise and x-rays to guide them
in their diagnosis of internal medicine problems, but these methods do not always provide
a complete diagnostic picture. With the
advent of ultrasound technology, veterinarians are given extra help in the form of
state-of-the-art ultrasound-gcnerated images which can help reflect disease processes
within the body.
The ultrasound
machine uses a hand-held probe which is passed over the patient's body by the
veterinarian. It is the same procedure which
human doctors use to evaluate their patients, and has the advantage of being a non-painful
diagnostic procedure. In addition, it does
not generate x-rays which could potentially be harmful to the patient or handlers,
although oftentimes x-ray studies of a patient are needed, as well.
The new ultrasound machine has a variety of uses. To begin with, we offer ultrasound studies of the heart and/or abdomen for patients whose conditions indicate that such diagnostics are needed. The ultrasound can also help us collect samples for laboratory tests (such as urine samples) and can give us a quick and accurate diagnosis of such conditions as bladder stones. Ultrasound can also help us diagnose pregnancies in dogs with fetuses as young as 21 days.
All
major ultrasound cases are sent via e-mail to experts all across the country for
second opinions. We have found this very valuable on our complex
cases. We have experts at our fingertips without our clients having to
travel three or four hours to a university.
The doctors
at Greens Fork Animal Hospital have found the ultrasound has helped to increase accuracy
of diagnosis and has helped us to better estimate an animal's prognosis. Our ultrasound machine is the only one in the
Richmond area and we are happy to provide ultrasound services to our clients and to the
clients of other veterinarians in the area.