Ever wish your superpower was x-ray vision so you could see what’s inside of something? It could answer a lot of questions you may have about what is hidden. At Town ‘n’ Country we’re not looking to be in the next Marvel movie, but we can see inside your pet to help us know what may be making him not feel his best self.
Ultrasound is an imaging modality that allows us to look through soft tissue structures. It uses sound waves to create a picture. The picture is a cross-section of the area we are scanning. It does have limitations related to what sound waves do in certain densities. We can’t see into or through bones and air or gas obscures anything deeper to the gas bubble. But within soft tissues or fluids, we can see edges of organs to measure size and shape, changes in density of an organ that can represent inflammation, a mass, mineralization to name a few. This can help us understand what may be going on.
Sometimes it can be the closest thing we have to a crystal ball. If we’re able to catch something very early, we may be able to let an owner know what is coming in the future and how to prepare or pivot to allow care. Recently we were able to find a very small bladder mass on a patient that hasn’t started to show any signs yet. Armed with this information, this owner has many more options than what could have happened if we found this after he had blood in his urine.
From diagnosing early masses to confirming pregnancies and counting puppies (or kittens), ultrasound has helped us improve the quality of our pets’ lives and the people who love them.
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