Veterinary Clinical Medicine-I (General and Systemic)

ULTRASOUND EXAMINATION AND EXPLORATORY LAPAROTOMY

Ultrasound Examination

• Ultrasonography is another very useful imaging technique. An ultrasound examination can help distinguish surgical from non surgical disease.

Exploratory Laparotomy

• The decision to perform surgery in the patient with an acute abdomen can be challenging. Sometimes the results of diagnostic testing fail to yield a clear diagnosis and exploratory laparotomy must be considered a diagnostic test. There are a number of intra-abdominal lesions that are difficult to recognize or positively define without abdominal exploration. This is particularly true when the signs are obscure or if they recur with an increase in severity or frequency.