ULTRASONOGRAPHY OF FATTY INFILTRATION OF THE LIVER IN DAIRY-CATTLE USING LIVER-KIDNEY CONTRAST

Ultrasonography of both the liver and kidney in 150 dairy cows was att empted using a grey-scale sonograph with a 3.5 MHz transducer and a li near array electronic scanner. Liver and kidney specimens were examine d microscopically and fatty occupying rate was calculated. Digital ana lysis of hepatic and renal ultrasonograms was performed. The echoes fr om different areas of the liver and kidney at 1 and 3 cm from the peri toneum were quantified as histogram mean (Emean) and histogram mode (E mode) values of echo amplitude. Liver-kidney contrast was performed on ly in 38 out of 150 animals. In the other 112 animals, no images of th e liver and kidney at the same distance from the peritoneum could be o btained. Out of 38 animal, 23 had a normal liver and 15 had fatty infi ltration of the liver (7, 5 and 3 animals had mild, moderate and sever e fatty infiltration, respectively). Fatty infiltration of the kidney was also seen in animals whose liver had > 10% fatty occupying rate. A t 1 cm from the peritoneum, the hepatic Emeans and Emodes were signifi cantly different from the renal Emeans and Emodes in animals with seve re fatty infiltration of the liver (p < 0.05). The results show that f or diagnosis of fatty infiltration of the liver, ultrasonography using liver-kidney contrast has only limited use in dairy cattle.