Ultrasound allows thorough assessment of your pet’s internal organs for signs of disease or abnormalities. The presence of food and accumulated gas in the stomach and intestines makes it more difficult for the ultrasound beam to penetrate to all the organs. Most pets will need all food withheld 12 hours prior to check-in to help obtain an optimal ultrasound exam. Your pet may have water until a couple of hours before you check-in.

Medications can still be given with a small treat or minimal amount of soft food, if needed. Call our office if your pet cannot be fasted (i.e.: your pet is diabetic or is an exotic/pocket pet).

Ultrasound diagnosis often relies on subtle changes and when patients are tense, in pain, or panting, lesions can be missed. In our experience mild sedation, and in some cases light intravenous (IV) anesthesia, often allows for a faster and more accurate exam. When performing biopsies and/or fluid drainages, using sedation or light IV anesthesia allows us to perform the procedure more safely and more comfortably for your pet.

If your pet is sedated, they will likely be groggy for the remainder of the day. Their sense of balance may also be off. Occasionally patients have a life threatening response to sedation or anesthesia but this is extremely rare. With modern anesthetics, we believe the more accurate diagnosis and safer procedure outweigh the anesthetic risks.

Please contact your veterinarian to discuss prescribing an oral sedative given before your appointment to help reduce any stress or anxiety your pet may have for their ultrasound.

Many pet owners believe their pet will be less stressed and more cooperative if they are with them during the exam but it is often the opposite. It is also important to avoid interruptions and possible distractions to allow the radiologist/sonographer full concentration during the ultrasound exam. Therefore, an ultrasound exam can be performed more efficiently and more accurately when only trained staff is helping with your pet.

Ultrasound is very good to look inside of the body but several diseases can have similar appearances (e.g. tumors and abscesses). Determining the type of cells present within a lesion by obtaining a very small sample allows us to make a final differentiation in most cases. We strongly recommend ultrasound guided fine needle aspirates/biopsies when identification of the type of cells present is needed to obtain a final diagnosis. If an aspirate/biopsy is recommended, a veterinary technician or doctor will discuss it with you. A biopsy is never performed without your consent.

The skin is first cleaned with a surgical soap and then a small needle (smaller than those used for blood samples) is inserted, with ultrasound guidance, into the area of concern. An average of 3 samples is obtained to ensure the greatest diagnostic yield. The samples are transferred to a glass slide, prepared, and sent to the laboratory for interpretation by a cytopathologist.

If a larger biopsy sample is indicated, the tissue will be obtained and placed in a special solution to be sent to a pathologist.

The biggest risk of fine needle aspirates/biopsies is internal bleeding, but it is rare. We conducted a retrospective study including over 3000 aspirates/biopsies and severe internal bleeding occurred in less than 0.25% of the patients. If any significant bleeding is detected during the procedure, we will notify you and your referring veterinarian immediately.