ULTRASONOGRAPHIC STUDY OF FELINE LOWER URINARY-TRACT DISEASES - 32 CASES

The objective of the study was to describe the ultrasonographic findin gs of urinary bladder urolithiasis and to determine the diagnostic val ue of the technique in feline lower urinary tract diseases (LUTD). Phy sical examination of the urinary system and routine clinicopathologica l analysis of the blood and urine were performed on 32 cats presented with clinical symptoms of LUTD. Cystosonography was done on all of the cats, while plain radiography was performed on 8 and double contrast cystography on 2 cats. Sonography of the bladder provided the followin g diagnoses: urolithiasis and chronic cystitis: 24 cases, chronic cyst itis without urolithiasis: 4 cases, bladder neoplasm: 1 case, negative sonographic finding: 3 cases. Bladder calculi and/or plugs were diagn osed easily, up to a size of 2 mm, according to acoustic shadowing and /or reverberation and gravitation. When the bladder was empty, it was filled up with physiologic saline solution to visualise its contents m ore easily. Sonography proved to be a useful technique for diagnosing urinary bladder calculi and/or plugs even when they were radiolucent a nd for distinguishing among the different causes of LUTD. Although ult rasonography is a valuable diagnostic tool, radiography is still neces sary to explore lower urinary tract diseases, especially when cystoson ography provides negative results or urethral obstruction is suspected .