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

Ultrasound diagnoses often rely on subtle changes and when patients are tense, in pain, or panting, many lesions can be missed. In our experience, sedation or anesthesia often allows for a faster and more accurate examination. Anesthesia also allows us to perform biopsies and/or fluid drainage immediately, more safely and more accurately. For these reasons, we may recommend sedation or anesthesia from the start for examinations other than cardiac, pregnancy and urinary bladder examinations, particularly when we expect to perform ultrasound-guided fine needle biopsies. What are the risks? Occasionally patients have a life threatening reaction to anesthesia but this is extremely rare with modern anesthetics and we believe the more accurate diagnoses and safer biopsies outweigh anesthetic risks.

Ultrasound is very good to look inside the body but several diseases can have a similar appearance (e.g. tumors and abscesses). Determining the type of cells present within a lesion by obtaining a very small sample with a small needle allows us to make a final differentiation in most cases. We strongly recommend ultrasound-guided needle biopsies when we need to know the type of cells present to obtain a final diagnosis. If this is the case with your pet, the veterinary technician or radiologist will discuss it with you. A biopsy is never performed without your consent.

After the procedure, the sonographer and/or veterinary technician will talk with you regarding the ultrasound findings before you leave. Fine-needle biopsy results are faxed to your referring veterinarian within 24 hours (except weekends). Tru-Cut biopsy results are usually not available before 48-72 hours. Please contact your referring veterinarian for biopsy results.

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