Ultrasonography of Spleen,

Liver and Heart

Ultrasonography of spleen in small
animals
• In canine
• Found along the left cranial and ventral abdominal
wall that parallels the greater curvature of the
stomach within the greater omentum.
• As spleen is only attached by the gastrosplenic
ligament of the greater omentum, its position in dogs
can be variable.
• In feline
• located in the left cranial and lateral abdomen,
caudal and lateral to the stomach.
Landmarks that help to identify the location
of the spleen
• It include
• the stomach, descending colon, and left kidney:
• The stomach is located cranial and medial to the spleen.
• The left colic flexure and transverse colon are located dorsal, medial
and caudal to the body of the spleen
• The left kidney is located dorsal, medial and caudal to the spleen.
 hyperechoic foci hypoechoic mass

Normal

lymphoma

abnormally distended splenic artery hemangiosarcoma

Ultrasonography of Liver in small animals
• Ultrasonography of the liver should be performed if liver disease is
suspected even if there are no radiological abnormalities. The hepatic
parenchyma, gall bladder, large hepatic and portal veins and caudal
vena cava are all visible.
• The patient should be fasted but given free access to water.
• Place the transducer on the ventral abdomen at the level of the
• xiphisternum and angle it craniodorsally to image the liver.
• Fan the beam from left to right to span the entire liver.
• If the liver is small, image it through an intercostal approach.
Ultrasonographic appearance of the normal liver

• Moderately echoic with a granular appearance

• Lobes smooth in outline and sharply pointed
• Gall bladder is rounded or pear shaped. It can be dilated after
• prolonged periods of anorexia
• The liver echogenicity should be compared to that of the spleen and
the kidney at the same depth and machine settings.
• The normal liver is usually slightly more echoic than the renal cortex
and less echoic than the spleen.
• The liver often sits on a bed of falciform fat (bright echogenicity)
Dog in dorsal recumbency; the
ultrasound transducer is in the
short-axis imaging plane, with the Long-axis image of a canine liver. The
notch pointing to the right in a hyperechoic line along the left side of
midline position (A). Transverse the image represents the lung–
image obtained from the left side diaphragm interface; the arrows mark
of the dog (B): the spleen (S) is in the hyperechoic portal vessels.
the near field on the right side of
the image. Transverse image
from the same dog with the
gallbladder on the left side of the
image (right side of the dog) (C);
the bright echogenic line in the far
field is the lung–diaphragm
interface.
Transverse (short-axis) image of a dog showing a
hypoechoic nodule in the left liver lobe (A); on
cytology, it was determined to be nodular
regeneration. Long-axis image of a dog showing a
hyperechoic nodule in the left liver lobe; the
cytologic diagnosis was extramedullary
hematopoiesis (B). Multiple target lesions
(hypoechoic rim and hyperechoic center) seen
within a long-axis view of the left liver lobe (C); on
cytology, this was determined to be histiocytic
sarcoma.
Echocardiography
• Echocardiography is the art of using ultrasound to view the structure and
function of the heart in real time. 
• A variety of types of echocardiography are used to show the structure of the
heart walls, chambers and valves (2 or 3-dimensional echocardiography), blood
flow direction and velocity (Doppler echocardiography, including color, pulsed
and continuous wave) and heart wall motion velocity (Tissue Doppler
echocardiography).
• Echocardiography is used for diagnosis of nearly all heart diseases such as valve
abnormalities (Chronic Valvular Disease), heart dilation (Dilated
Cardiomyopathy), heart muscle thickening (Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy),
congenital diseases (Patent Ductus Arteriosus), heart tumors, and most other
heart problems.