Audubon Animal Hospital utilizes non-invasive digital radiography and ultrasound technology to diagnose a wide range of health conditions in pets, from routine ailments to serious disease,
Diagnostic ultrasound, which uses high frequency sound waves to create "real time" images of soft tissue anatomy, is another significant advancement in veterinary medicine. As a safe, painless way to look inside the body, ultrasound can observe blood flow, heartbeats, and gastrointestinal movement as they occur. Abdominal ultrasound can be used to examine soft tissue structures such as the liver, gall bladder, spleen, kidneys, bladder, prostate, uterus, ovaries, adrenal glands, stomach, and intestines.
Thoracic (chest) ultrasound can be used to uncover abnormalities of the heart and surrounding structures, such as increased fluid, enlarged lymph nodes and tumors. We can't look inside the lungs, since ultrasound is impeded by air, but we can examine the heart and look for abnormalities such as fluid, enlarged lymph nodes, and tumors.
If your pet has symptoms such as excessive vomiting, infrequent urination, unexplained weight loss, chronic infections, or has received abnormal blood work results, we may request to perform an ultrasound. It is also used as part of a pre-surgical screening, to diagnose pregnancy, to determine staging in cancer patients, and as a baseline by which to compare results of future visits (e.g. geriatric patients.)
Our experienced veterinarians and licensed technicians are highly skilled at obtaining and interpreting these images.
