title: Comparative ultrasonographic investigations of the gastrointestinal tract and the liver in healthy and diseased pigeons.
abstract: The use of ultrasound as a diagnostic tool in birds has been documented for cardiac, urogenital, and liver disease. However, its use in gastrointestinal tract disease is not defined. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare the ultrasonographic findings of the intestine and liver of six healthy racing pigeons with those of six racing pigeons with gastrointestinal disease. The echogenicity of the liver was significantly different between the two groups. Pigeons with gastrointestinal disease had less homogeneous liver echogenicity with focal heterogeneous areas and the hepatic blood vessels were visible and dilated. The duodenum was visualized and its mean diameter of 7.2 +/- 0.3 mm in the diseased pigeons was significantly wider (P < or = 0.001) than the 5.7 +/- 0.2 mm in healthy birds. The thickness of the duodenal wall in healthy and diseased pigeons was 1.6 +/- 0.1 and 2.4 +/- 0.1 mm, respectively, and they were significantly different (P < or = 0.001). We defined baseline measurements for the duodenal loop in pigeons and provided evidence that ultrasound can be a useful diagnostic tool for investigating intestinal disease in pigeons.
authors.affiliation: Department of Small Animal Medicine, the Clinic for Birds and Reptiles, University of Leipzig, Germany. pees@vmf.uni-leipzig.de
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pees
authors.forename: Ingmar
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kiefer
authors.forename: Maria-Elisabeth
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Krautwald-Junghanns
authors.forename: Lucio
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Filippich
authors.forename: Juergen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kiefer
authors.forename: Gerhard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Oechtering
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001715:Bird Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002195:Capillaria; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003048:Coccidiosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000662:veterinary; D010856:Columbidae / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D004539:Eimeria; D017189:Enoplida Infections / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000662:veterinary; D005243:Feces / Q000469:parasitology; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D007411:Intestinal Diseases, Parasitic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000662:veterinary*; D008099:Liver / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000662:veterinary