BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women. One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. Chemotherapy works on active cells. Active cells are cells that are growing and dividing into more of the same type of cell. Cancer cells are active, but so are some healthy cells. Also, scientists work constantly to develop ways of providing treatment with fewer chemotherapy side effects. Objectives: The aim of this study was antitumor effect of simultaneous low-intensity, 150 kHz ultrasound, in combination with the reduced dose of anticancer drug Doxorubicin (DOX) on breast adenocarcinoma using murine model (BALB/c). Methods: Twenty-five female BALB/c mice were used in this study. The tumor was implanted under the breast skin of mice. Mice were divided into five groups, namely control, sham, drug (IV injected of 2 mg/kg of DOX), drug (IV injected of 1 mg/kg of DOX) + US (150 kHz for 15 minutes) and exposure to ultrasound (150 kHz for 15 minutes) alone. The data were analyzed employing ANOVA using SPSS software V.13 and complementary test of Tooki was done. Results: It was shown that, after injection of DOX, exposure to ultrasound at 150 kHz the necrotic spaces in adenocarcinoma tumors compared to control and sham groups have meaningful variance (p<0.001). There was also a significant difference (the bigger the necrotic spaces) between the drug+US group and drug treated group (p<0.05), It should be mentioned that the dose of DOX in drug+US group was reduced to 1mg/kg. Conclusions: The co-administration of DOX and low-intensity ultrasound provided a more effective treatment than the drug alone in murine adenocarcinoma breast cancer. The combined treatment appeared to produce synergistic effects that could prove potentially useful in reducing the side effects of DOX by lowering the required effective dose of the drug while increasing the efficiency of the therapy as a whole.

peer reviewed | [en] OBJECTIVE: To study the feasibility of ultrasound-guided intervertebral disc (IVD) injection of contrast medium and methylene blue to aid in intraoperative identification of cervical IVD spaces in dogs. METHODS: This was a single-center experimental cadaver study using randomly chosen skeletally mature dog cadavers from January 2, 2023, to March 23, 2023. For each cadaver, 1 cervical IVD was randomly selected. The ventral cervical region was ultrasonographically examined, pushing the trachea leftwards. A 50/50 contrast medium (iohexol, 300 mgI/mL) and methylene blue mixture was injected under ultrasound guidance in the IVD and ventral soft tissues. The x-rays and CT scans were performed before and after injection. Each cadaver was dissected using a ventral slot procedure. The cadavers and IVD characteristics, the success rate in ultrasonographically identifying the correct IVD space, time to injection, most caudal IVD space feasibly injectable, and semiquantitative imaging and surgical scores were recorded. RESULTS: 20 canine cadavers were used. The IVD injections were successfully performed in the correct IVD space in all cadavers. The median time to injection was 3.95 minutes (Q1 to Q3, 3.22 to 5.88 minutes). The contrast medium was clearly visible on at least 1 radiographic projection in all but 1 case and on the CT in all cases. During surgical dissection, the dye was clearly visible in all but 1 case. The dogs' weight was significantly different between most caudal IVD spaces feasibly injectable. CONCLUSIONS: Ultrasonographical cervical IVD space identification and mixture injection are feasible and might help intraoperative cervical IVD space identification in dogs. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: This technique could be used presurgically in patients with cervical IVD diseases.

International audience | OBJECTIVE To report clinical signs, biological anomalies, treatment, and outcome in domestic ferrets with cholecystitis, describe the ultrasonographic features of cholecystitis, and compare the ultrasonographic appearance of the hepatobiliary system between diseased and healthy ferrets. METHODS 11 ferrets with confirmed cholecystitis and abdominal ultrasonography were retrospectively included. Ten healthy ferrets were prospectively recruited to undergo hepatobiliary abdominal ultrasonography. Comparisons of explanatory variables (group, age, body weight, and sex) were performed. RESULTS The most common clinical signs were nonspecific, and icterus was observed in 1/4 of diseased ferrets. Compared with healthy individuals, diseased ferrets showed a larger common bile duct (CBD; ≥ 2.8 mm), a thicker CBD wall (≥ 0.7 mm), a thicker gallbladder (GB) wall, more frequent echoic GB luminal content, visible intrahepatic bile ducts, and a greater GB volume. Bile culture was positive in 9/11 mostly for Escherichia coli (8/9). Bile cytology indicated septic purulent cholecystitis in 7/7 ferrets. Survival time after antibiotic treatment ranged from 6 to 104 weeks, with a median of 36 weeks. CONCLUSIONS Ferrets with cholecystitis presented with nonspecific clinical signs and frequently showed hyperbilirubinemia. Ultrasonography findings such as enlarged CBD, thickened CBD wall, thicker GB wall, GB sludge, visible intrahepatic bile ducts, and enlarged GB may suggest cholecystitis. Escherichia coli was commonly isolated from bile. The medium-term mortality rate was high despite targeted antibiotherapy. CLINICAL RELEVANCE This is the first study describing the clinical signs, biological anomalies, ultrasonographic findings, and outcomes after treatment in a series of domestic ferrets with cholecystitis.

The objective of the study was to examine the normal liver using ultrasound technique formeasuring liver thickness, portal and hepatic veins diameter in clinically normal cattle, furthermore todetermine some liver lesions. Ultrasonography was used to evaluate the liver in 20 local cattle breeds ofdifferent ages 10 of them have exhibited clinical signs of chronic emaciation, icteric mucousmembranes and decrease in milk production moreover, the other 10 cows were clinically normal. Liverposition, diameter and texture were explored from the right side of the abdominal wall in standingposition, without anesthesia by using 3.5 MHz transducer, after hair moistening by alcohol. The largestliver thickness was measured at the 10 and 12 intercostal space and it was decreased gradually forward.Normal liver has an echogenic appearance of equally distributed white dots and had a uniform mildechogenicity, there were an anechoic round and tubular vascular structures, representing hepatic andportal veins while abnormal liver has multi-hypoechoic circles. It has been concluded that, Sonographyof normal liver can be utilized as a good diagnostic references in animals with liver diseases.

Tenotomized Achilles tendon Rabbits were used to investigate the effect of lowintensity pulsed ultrasound (LPUS) to accelerate the repair of injured tendon. The medial Achilles tendons of 18 local breed male rabbits were transected of all animals without suture, and bandaging was performed to immobilization the injured limb. Nine animals were chosen randomly to receive low-intensity pulsed ultrasound, the other 9 animals served as control. pulsating ultrasound with intensities 500 mW/cm2 and frequency 2.5 MHz were given over the healing tendons for 10 minute daily, using a gel as the coupling agent between the ultrasound probe and the skin. The healing tendons were evaluated clinically, macroscopically and microscopically for three periods at 7, 14 and 21 days respectively after tenotomy, three rabbits for each period. In the ultrasound-treated group at 14 and 21 days postoperatively, the macroscopic and histological studies demonstrated that the low-intensity pulsed ultrasound enhanced the healing of tendomize Achilles tendon. The ultrasound treated group showed more mature organization at all end points of injured tendons compared

Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the serum ferritin level and quantitate ultra¬sound elastography as a marker to distinguish dogs with benign and malignant liver tumors. Materials and Methods: Twenty-eight dogs were determined the serum ferritin and ultrasound elastography by using fine-needle aspiration biopsy. Results: Our results demonstrated that dogs with malignant liver tumors had significantly higher mean serum ferritin concentrations than those with benign liver tumors (p = 0.004). The mean intensity of blue and red colors from elastography was greater in the malignant than those in the benign group, especially for the blue color, meaning that lesions showed more hard tissue. Additionally, histograms of blue color in the malignant tended to be higher than the benign group. Conclusion: We suggested that quantitative ultrasound elastography and serum ferritin concen¬tration comprise an alternative and non-invasive diagnostic method that could be used to predict the type of liver tumors in dogs. [J Adv Vet Anim Res 2020; 7(4.000): 575- 584]

Gallbladder mucocele is characterized by hyperplasia of the gallbladder epithelium, increased mucus production, accumulation, and densification of the bile content, which can lead to biliary obstruction, necrosis, and rupture of the gallbladder wall. Its finding may be accidental or related to symptoms. A retrospective study (2016-2019) was carried out based on abdominal ultrasound examinations in dogs, correlating aspects of the gallbladder and biliary system in the mucocele with existing comorbidities. Thirty dogs diagnosed with biliary mucocele were evaluated, of which 46.66% had the disease at an early stage, and 53.33% showed a more advanced stage. Of these, 66.66% were related to endocrinopathies and hyperadrenocorticism. Signs of extrahepatic bile duct obstruction and biliary peritonitis were observed in two animals. Due to their potential risk of complications, follow-up ultrasound assessments are indicated in cases that opt for clinical treatment, not excluding the need for surgical intervention.

Kinematic motion analysis is based on the reconstruction of selected bony anatomical landmarks identified by surface markers. Anatomical landmarks generally do not correspond to points but rather to relatively large and curved areas and their identification by palpation is not easy. Precise placement of surface markers is even more difficult and there is great variability between operators. In this study 16 examiners were asked to identify the lateral border of the left ischial tuberosity in a horse using palpation and ultrasonography for placement of a corresponding skin surface marker. Images of each marking procedure were captured using two video cameras and processed using the DVideow videogrammetry. A custom-written Matlab code was used to determine the position of the respective vectors. The positions of the markers were then compared to assess inter-examiner variability and the precision of the methods employed using the Bartletttest and the paired t-test respectively. Ultrasonography significantly improved the location of the anatomical landmark by each examiner (p = 0.04) and reduced the variability in the position of the surface marker when compared to palpation (p = 0.0028). The variability of the calculated distances (mean ± SD) was 2.89 ± 2.24 cm and 1.63 ± 0.98 cm using palpation and ultrasonography respectively. Ultrasound guidance reduced inter-examiner variability and allowed visualization of the corresponding bony anatomical landmark.