Portosystemic shunt in a dog - computed tomography as a successful imagingmethod

A portosystemic shunt located between the portal vein and the right azygos vein was successfully diagnosed in a five month old female Shi-Tsu with the help of computed tomography. The shunt vessel was not seen by sonography. After partial ligation of the vessel the dog made a complete recovery. In t he contrary to angiography this imaging modality is noninvasive, and does n ot require radioactive substances like scintigraphy. In the case presented the technique allowed an exact presurgical diagnosis and facilitated surgic al planning of the shunt ligation.