title: Ultrasonographic measurement of the relative thickness of intestinal wall layers in clinically healthy cats.
abstract: The normal sonographic thickness of the individual layers (ie, mucosa, submucosa, muscularis and subserosa-serosa) of the intestinal wall was evaluated in 20 clinically healthy cats. The mean thickness of the wall was 2.20, 2.22, 3.00 and 2.04 mm for duodenum, jejunum, ileum (fold) and ileum (between folds), respectively. The mean thickness of the mucosal layer was 1.27, 1.20, 0.46 and 0.49 mm for duodenum, jejunum, ileum (fold) and ileum (between folds), respectively, and its contribution to wall thickness was significantly greater than that of the other layers in the duodenum (57.7%) and jejunum (55.2%). The mean thickness of the submucosal layer was 0.36, 0.36, 1.49 and 0.53 mm for duodenum, jejunum, ileum (fold) and ileum (between folds), respectively, and its contribution to wall thickness was greater than that of the muscularis in the duodenum (16.3%), jejunum (16%) and ileum (fold) (49.8 %). The mean thickness of muscularis was 0.28, 0.35, 0.66 and 0.65 mm for duodenum, jejunum, ileum (fold) and ileum (between folds), respectively, with a corresponding contribution to wall thickness of 12.7 %, 14.4%, 22% and 31.6%. Finally, the mean thickness of serosa was 0.29, 0.31, 0.38 and 0.38 mm for duodenum, jejunum, ileum (fold) and ileum (between folds), respectively, with a corresponding contribution to wall thickness of 13.3%, 14.4%, 12.7 % and 18.7%. These values can provide baseline information that might be useful in evaluating intestinal disorders affecting preferentially some of the intestinal layers.
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Pamela
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Di Donato
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Penninck
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pietra
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cipone
authors.forename: Alessia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Diana
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002415:Cats / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005260:Female; D007422:Intestines / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008297:Male; D014463:Ultrasonography