Endoscopic colon ultrasound in dogs

VRU 2023: 64(3): 557-565

December 16, 2023

Background: Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) is a medical procedure that combines endoscopy and ultrasonography (US) to evaluate the gastrointestinal tract. EUS has been applied to various organs in human and veterinary medicine, but its feasibility and features in the colorectal region of dogs have not been described.

Study: This prospective, method comparison, pilot study aimed to assess the feasibility of EUS in the colorectal region with or without hydrosonography, and to describe the typical EUS features of the descending colon and rectum in healthy dogs.

Methods: Ten healthy Beagles underwent transabdominal US and EUS of the descending colon and rectum before and after hydrosonography. The wall thickness, visibility of the wall layers, and conspicuity of the mucosal and serosal surfaces of the intestinal wall were measured and compared among the sites, scan portions, and US techniques.

Results: EUS enabled circumferential evaluation of the colorectal wall and provided better visibility of the wall layers and conspicuity of the mucosal and serosal surfaces compared to US, especially in the rectum. Hydrosonography improved the image quality of the rectum on US, but deteriorated it on EUS.

Limitations: The study had a small sample size and used only dogs of the same breed and body size. Histological examination of the colorectal wall was not performed to confirm the normality of the dogs.

Conclusions: EUS was feasible for assessing the colorectal area and showed potential for evaluating rectal masses or intrapelvic lesions that are inaccessible by transabdominal US in dogs. Future studies are needed to evaluate EUS in dogs with colorectal diseases.

Transabdominal ultrasound (A) and endoscopic ultrasound (B) of the proximal descending colon (1), distal descending colon (2), and rectum (3). On transabdominal ultrasound, transverse planes of the three sites were obtained with a 5–18 MHz electronic linear transducer. In endoscopic ultrasound performed with a 5–10 MHz rigid type radial transducer, notice the anechoic region (asterisk) for the stand-off. The wall layers are marked as: a = mucosa, b = submucosa, c = muscularis propria, d = serosa. All images used one focal point positioned to be located near the middle of the image, 4 cm depth, 60 gain, 85 dB dynamic range, grey map 1, and spatial compound imaging.

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