Ultrasonography of the parathyroid glands as an aid in differentiation of acute and chronic renal failure in dogs.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate whether determination of parathyroid gland size by use of ultrasonography is helpful in differentiating acute renal failure (ARF) from chronic renal failure (CRF) in dogs.


METHODS
Prospective study.


METHODS
20 dogs with renal failure in which serum creatinine concentration was at least 5 times the upper reference limit. Seven dogs had ARF, and 13 dogs had CRF. Twenty-three healthy dogs were used as controls.


METHODS
Dogs were positioned in dorsal recumbency for ultrasonographic examination of the ventral portion of the neck, A 10-MHz linear-array high-resolution transducer was used. The size of the parathyroid gland was determined by measuring the maximal length of the gland on the screen when it was imaged in longitudinal section. For comparison among groups, the longest linear dimension of any of the parathyroid glands of each dog was used.


RESULTS
Size of the parathyroid glands in the control dogs varied from 2.0 to 4.6 mm (median, 3.3 mm). In the dogs with ARF, gland size ranged from 2.4 to 4.0 mm (median, 2.7), which was not significantly different from controls. In dogs with CRF, the glands were more distinctly demarcated from the surrounding thyroid tissue, than those of controls and dogs with ARF. Sizes ranged from 3.9 to 8.1 mm (median, 5.7 mm), which was significantly larger, compared with controls and dogs with ARF.


CONCLUSIONS
In dogs with severe azotemia, ultrasonographic examination of the parathyroid glands was helpful in differentiating ARF from CRF Size of the parathyroid glands appeared to be related to body weight.
Reusch
C E
CE
Clinic for Small Animal Internal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
Tomsa
K
K
Zimmer
C
C
Hoerauf
A
A
Nett
C
C
Unterer
S
S
Glaus
T M
TM
Schlittner
E
E
Pospischil
A
A
D058186:Acute Kidney Injury / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000662:veterinary*; D000818:Animals; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D004285:Dogs; D005260:Female; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000662:veterinary*; D008297:Male; D010280:Parathyroid Glands / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014463:Ultrasonography