title: Ultrasonographic visualization of the liver in sites recommended for blind percutaneous liver biopsy in horses.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To ascertain the frequency of ultrasonographic identification of liver at sites recommended for blind percutaneous liver biopsy in middle-aged horses and to determine whether the liver is obscured by other organs or too thin for safe sample collection at recommended locations.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective case series.
  
  
  METHODS
  36 healthy middle-aged (between 3 and 18 years old) Quarter Horses or Quarter Horse crosses [Corrected].
  
  
  METHODS
  Blood samples were collected from each horse and submitted for evaluation of liver function. Horses with any indication of liver dysfunction on serum biochemical analysis were excluded. The region just below a line drawn between the dorsal aspect of the tuber coxae and the point of the elbow joint in the right 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th intercostal spaces (ICSs) was imaged by ultrasonography for the presence of liver. In each ICS, liver thickness and whether there was partial obstruction in viewing the liver caused by other abdominal or thoracic organs were recorded.
  
  
  RESULTS
  39% (14/36) of horses had liver imaged on ultrasonographic examination in all of the 11th to 14th ICSs. None of the 36 horses had liver of adequate thickness (ie, liver thickness ≥ 3.5 cm) for biopsy in all of the imaged ICSs. For 22 horses in which the liver was not visible on ultrasonographic examination of an ICS, lung was imaged instead in 12 (55%) horses, intestine in 8 (36%), and both intestine and lung in 2 (9%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  On the basis of the results of this study, the practice of blind percutaneous liver biopsy in horses is not recommended because of the risk of serious complications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843.
authors.forename: Sara C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Sammons
authors.forename: Tracy E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Norman
authors.forename: M Keith
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Chaffin
authors.forename: Noah D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Cohen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001706:Biopsy / Q000662:veterinary; D005260:Female; D006734:Horse Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006736:Horses; D008099:Liver / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D008297:Male; D014463:Ultrasonography