Returning to my equine roots this week, the use of ultrasonography for liver visualisation (carried out by the Royal Veterinary College – my old haunting ground!) will be discussed. All information contained here has been taken from the abstract from a paper by Johns IC and Miles A, ‘Ultrasonographically visible hepatic location in clinically normal horses’, Australian Veterinary Journal, 2016 Jun: 94(6):192-6 and the full article can be accessed by clicking here.

Veterinary ultrasound is a rapid and non-invasive technique used by practitioners in order to glean specific information from the animal in question. In addition, ultrasound can bypass the need for sedation when carrying out examination, and with the correct training can be carried out with minimal distress to the patient. In the study in question, ultrasound imaging was used to assess whether certain equine attributes (e.g. height and weight) were able to modify hepatic regions in the horse. This is of particular importance as being able to distinguish between a ‘normal’ horse and a horse suffering from a pathological condition in the liver utilising set guidelines could help in the diagnosis of liver dysfunction.

A total of 58 horses none of which had suffered from liver conditions previously were looked at in this study and all were considered to be ‘clinically normal’. Ultrasonography was used to assess 3 different features, with examination carried out on both the right and left of the body and some of the results are discussed henceforth. Researchers showed that the liver was almost always able to be seen on the right side, with slightly less success when carried out on the left side (97% v. 71%), whilst the liver could be seen 67% of the time from both the right and left side. These results therefore indicate that practitioners may wish to carry out future examinations of the liver from the right wherever possible. In addition, the ability to view the liver in comparison to the positioning of intercostal spaces was also examined relative to the cranial and caudal regions of the body. Finally, one of the findings from this study showed that whilst the gender/breed/profile of the horse was not shown to have any impact on the regions able to be visualised following ultrasound imaging, age was an important factor to consider. There appeared to be an increased ability to view the liver in younger horses when taken via the right hand side, and this was postulated to be due to a reduction in liver proportions as horses get older.

If you are wanting to carry out equine ultrasonography, take a look at the relevant section of our website to see the different scanners we stock. If you are interested in training to be an ultrasonographer, take a look at our upcoming training courses we are running by clicking here.