Ultrasonographic features of normal heart and liver in relation to diagnose pericarditis in bovine

Abstract

The present study was conducted on 6 clinically healthy bovine and 55 adult female bovine (29 cows and 26 buffaloes) suffering from pericarditis. Ultrasonographic examination was performed from both right and left sides with convex or microconvex multifrequency (3.5 or 5.0 MHz) transducer in standing position. The pericardial effusions were seen from both right and left sides of heart at fourth and fifth ICS. Pericardial effusions were anechoic to hypoechoic with or without fibrin deposition in the pericardial sac in 74.6% animals or had a uniform echogenic texture in 25.4% animals suggestive of pus. Hepatic ultrasonography revealed congestion and marked hepatomegaly characterized by round liver margins. Caudal vena cava appeared persistently round and dilated. Portal vein was also dilated. Gall bladder was displaced with edematous and double walled appearance. Histopathology of ultrasound guided biopsy (USGB) and ultrasound guided fine needle aspiration biopsy (USG-FNAB) samples confirmed sinusoidal dilatation in all the animals along with chronic cholangiohepatitis, amyloidosis or chronic sepsis, purulent hepatitis, chronic active hepatitis and fatty liver. In conclusion ultrasonography is a reliable technique to describe nature and severity of the pericardial effusions to assess prognosis and outcome of the case.