Comparative Ultrasonographic Investigations of the Gastrointestinal Tract and the Liver in Healthy and Diseased Pigeons
Publication Type: |
Journal Article |
Year of Publication: |
2006 |
Authors: |
Michael Pees, Ingmar Kiefer, Maria-Elisabeth Krautwald-Junghanns, Lucio Filippich, Juergen Kiefer, Gerhard Oechtering |
Publication/Journal: |
Veterinary Radiology |
Keywords: |
bird, intestine, liver, pigeon, ultrasound |
ISBN: |
1058-8183 1740-8261 |
Abstract:
The use of ultrasound as a diagnostic tool in birds has been documented for cardiac, urogenital, and liver
disease. However, its use in gastrointestinal tract disease is not defined. Therefore, the purpose of this study was
to compare the ultrasonographic findings of the intestine and liver of six healthy racing pigeons with those of six
racing pigeons with gastrointestinal disease. The echogenicity of the liver was significantly different between the
two groups. Pigeons with gastrointestinal disease had less homogeneous liver echogenicity with focal heter-ogeneous areas and the hepatic blood vessels were visible and dilated. The duodenum was visualized and its mean
diameter of 7.2 0.3mm in the diseased pigeons was significantly wider (P 0.001) than the 5.7 0.2mm in
healthy birds. The thickness of the duodenal wall in healthy and diseased pigeons was 1.6 0.1 and
2.4 0.1mm, respectively, and they were significantly different (P 0.001). We defined baseline measure-ments for the duodenal loop in pigeons and provided evidence that ultrasound can be a useful diagnostic tool for
investigating intestinal disease in pigeons.