Clinical ultrasonography in loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta): imaging of pathological features

M. De Majo, F. Macri, M. Masucci, G. Coci and M.G. Pennisi
Additional contact information
M. De Majo: Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
F. Macri: Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
M. Masucci: Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
G. Coci: Veterinary Practitioner, Tremestieri Etneo, Catania, Italy
M.G. Pennisi: Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Messina, Messina, Italy

Veterinární medicína, 2016, vol. 61, issue 3, 155-161

Abstract: Ultrasound scans were used to image pathological features in sea turtles. Scans were carried out in 19 loggerhead sea turtles, weighing from 2 to 21 kg, during the course of clinical examinations using 3.5 and 7.5 MHz sector transducers. The examination was performed after placing turtles in dorsal recumbency. Turtles were manually restrained and, in order to find the most suitable acoustic windows, were held down either by their heads (left and right cervicobrachial windows), front flippers (left and right axillary windows) or back flippers (left and right prefemoral and postfemoral windows). The right and left cervicobrachial windows allowed visualisation of the liver and gallbladder; the stomach was localised through the left prefemoral acoustic window; the intestinal loops were observed through the left and right prefemoral acoustic windows; the bladder was identified through both prefemoral acoustic windows. The pathological findings were as follows: idiopathic ileus, an intestinal linear foreign body and smooth muscle hypertrophy, presence of calculi and sediment in the gallbladder. These results highlight the importance of ultrasound examination along with clinical examination in sea turtles for the evaluation of coelomic pathologies.

Keywords: ultrasound; loggerhead sea turtle; Caretta caretta (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://vetmed.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/8767-VETMED.html (text/html)
http://vetmed.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/8767-VETMED.pdf (application/pdf)
free of charge

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:caa:jnlvet:v:61:y:2016:i:3:id:8767-vetmed

DOI: 10.17221/8767-VETMED

Access Statistics for this article

Veterinární medicína is currently edited by Ing. Helena Smolová Ph.D.

More articles in Veterinární medicína from Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Ivo Andrle ().