title: Sonographic investigations of the gastrointestinal tract of granivorous birds.
abstract: This article describes the sonographic examination of the normal gastrointestinal tract of granivorous birds. Preliminary tests with dead birds were performed to get an idea of the sonographic echotexture of the avian gastrointestinal tract. Later, clinically healthy seedeaters of different weights were examined sonographically. As equipment a convex microcurved scanner with a particularly small coupling surface and an adjustable frequency from 5.5-7.5 MHz was used. For the investigation of the gastrointestinal tract, six sonographic approaches are described. After a starving time of 18 hours in the granivorous birds and water input, the best sonographic image quality could be obtained. Using this method, the crop, ventriculus, intestines, and cloaca could be demonstrated sonographically; whereas, it was not possible to visualize the normal proventriculus in granivorous birds. In contrast to mammals, the different layers of the wall of the gastrointestinal tract could not be visualized with the equipment used. Motility of individual parts of the gastrointestinal tract (GI tract), however, could be well demonstrated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Small Animal Medicine, Clinic for Birds and Reptiles of University of Leipzig, An den Tierkliniken 17, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Maria-Elisabeth
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Krautwald-Junghanns
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stahl
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pees
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Enders
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bartels
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001717:Birds / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D002988:Cloaca / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D003426:Crop, Avian / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D004064:Digestive System / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D007422:Intestines / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D012016:Reference Values; D018608:Ultrasonography, Doppler / Q000662:veterinary