Veterinary Clinical Medicine-I (General and Systemic)

COMBINED PERCUSSION / PALPATION AND AUSCULTATION TECHNIQUES

Tracheal percussion and auscultation

• The pleximeter is kept on the skin overlying the trachea in the mid neck and is struck with an acoustic percussion hammer in large animals. Simultaneously, auscultation of lung is done. In the normal lung, these sound are distant and indistinctly heard.
• In consolidation of the lung, it is loud and distinct. In exudative pleurisy, hydrothorax and other similar conditions it is loud and seems to come from a remote point.

Tuning fork and phonendoscope method

• The procedure is to place the vibrating fork against the skin, where its tone is picked up by the phonendoscope. When both the instruments lie over the same organ, the sound is loud and distinct.
• It is soft and indistinct when the tuning fork passes beyond the order of the organ. This method is useful in determining the exact limits of the individual organs and aids in diagnosing space occupying lesions (tumour, cyst, abscess etc.,) in the lung as well as cardiac enlargement.