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Abstract

This study was carried out to investigate the ultrasound findings in sheep and goats with hepatic disorders and its correlation with postmortem findings. Twenty-three female sheep (n=9) and goats (n=14) of 1-5 years were examined. They were refereed because of gradual loss of body condition, inappetence, anorexia, and abdominal distension. Ten clinically healthy female animals were used as a control group. The right side of the diseased and control animals were scanned by ultrasonography. None of the control animals showed any sonographic abnormality on hepatic imaging. Diseased animals were classified into 7 groups. Hepatic sonography in group 1 (gallstones) showed dilated bile ducts within the hepatic parenchyma and calculus in the gall bladder. In group 2, the cholecystitis group; the thickening of the gall bladder wall was remarkable on ultrasonography. In group number 3, stones in the bile duct, the calculus in the bile duct appeared sonographically as acoustic enhancement with a distal acoustic shadowing. In group 4 with fatty liver, hepatic imaging showed increased hepatic echogenicity (bright liver appearance) which was intense in 5 animals where blood vessels were difficult to be seen and moderate in the remaining 6. In group 5 affected with Cysticercus tenuicolis, hepatic sonography showed a coarse hyperechogenic pattern of the liver tissue. Unfortanately, both animals in groups 6 and 7 were not examined by sonography and only the postmortem findings were obtained. In conclusion, most of the sheep and goats examined in this study were admitted with nonspecific symptom. It is believed that without hepatic ultrasonography in diseased cases, it will be difficult to reach an antemortem diagnosis. The sonographic findings were parallel almost in all cases with postmortem findings.