The ability of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) to further our current knowledge of certain canine liver conditions is looked at here. In a paper published by Morishita K et al., ‘Washout Ratio in the Hepatic Vein Measured by Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasonography to Distinguish Between Inflammatory and Noninflammatory Hepatic Disorders in Dogs’ on 2017 April 5th in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, an application for CEUS within the liver is examined. Information discussed here is taken from the abstract and more information, including links to the full paper can be accessed here.

The researchers utilised the ability of a cell capable of ‘eating’ contents within the liver to ‘eat’ perflubutane microbubbles, which can then show certain structures within the body (like blood vessels) more clearly. This technique was used to calculate the washout ratio in the canine hepatic vein following CEUS which was carried out for 2 minutes in this study. The washout ratio was calculated by assessing the difference in intensity at both peak and at the conclusion of CEUS. A cohort of 41 dogs all presenting with different types of disorders of the liver were assessed in this study, with an additional 6 healthy dogs also used by way of a control.

The results revealed that in dogs suffering from hepatitis, the washout ratio was 18% (median), compared to a washout ratio of between 52.2-78% for dogs suffering from other hepatic disorders or those considered clinically healthy. These differences are considered significantly lower, with a sensitivity and specificity of 100% and 85.2% respectively where the washout ratio is less than or equal to 37.1%, in instances where hepatitis was anticipated. It was suggested therefore that this technique would be wholly suitable in establishing the presence of hepatitis in comparison to other disorders, and could be attributed to a reduction of ‘cell eating’ in dogs afflicted with hepatitis. Importantly hepatitis was considered an inflammatory liver disorder in this study, whereas the other disorders were not, indicative of a role for CEUS in identifying between both non-inflammatory and inflammatory liver conditions in our canine companions.

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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28382699