Ultrasound and telemedicineMay 27, 2019Don't just send him an ultrasound image and think he'll do business with you. "I will not read ultrasound images unless I've taught the person through doing the ultrasound," said Anthony J. Fischetti, DVM, MS, DACVR, department head of diagnostic imaging at the Animal Medical Center in New York, and president of Veterinary Ultrasound Society of the American College of Veterinary Radiologists (ACVR). "If I'm just reading still images from someone I haven't trained, I won't read them. I won't take their money, I won't try to make a diagnosis, and I kind of wish my colleagues would do the same," Dr. Fischetti said. Why? There's just too much to get wrong, he said. "You can make so many things look abnormal with ultrasound if you don't know the orientation of the probe or how the image was made," Fischetti said. In human medicine, often a relationship is already developed between those performing the ultrasound and the radiologist, so there's a level of trust and comfort. "We're just not there with veterinary medicine yet, and I'm personally against most telemedicine ultrasound," Fischetti said. Building relationships to improve trust and communication is also of utmost importance for Nathan C. Nelson, …
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Gathering vital patient information with ultrasoundMay 27, 2019Anthony J. Fischetti, DVM, MS, DACVR, department head of diagnostic imaging at the Animal Medical Center in New York, had just finished his shift. It had been an odd day; two dogs that had turned yellow had been brought into the clinic. The first patient, an older dog, had a tumor at the entrance of the gall bladder into the intestines—a common bile duct obstruction. The second patient had collapsed, experiencing diarrhea and vomiting. "I used the ultrasound to diagnose that it wasn't the liver," said Dr. Fischetti. "It turned out the dog was hemolyzing." An old, corroded coin in the dog's stomach was causing zinc toxicity. Thanks to the ultrasound images, the endoscopist retrieved the coin and the dog improved. Fischetti, who also is president of Veterinary Ultrasound Society of the American College of Veterinary Radiologists (ACVR), as well as other experts, say ultrasound is a safe and simple way to get more information on ailing patients. "I think the real value of ultrasound is its noninvasive nature," said Nathan C. Nelson, DVM, MS, DACVR, a clinical associate professor of radiology at the North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine. Why use ultrasound? Key considerations for adding …
Equipment focus: Cardiac diagnosticsFebruary 6, 2018What’s one of the most frequent questions associated with a patient in respiratory distress? More often than not, it’s whether the issue is cardiopathic, according to Eric Lindquist, DMV, DABVP, Cert. IVUSS.
Why ultrasound is not just for horse tendons, breedingNovember 9, 2016Since its introduction into equine medicine in the latter part of the 20th century, ultrasound has been enthusiastically adopted by practitioners—both hospital-based and in the field—as a noninvasive way to glean information about tissues lying beneath the skin.
