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Науковий вгсник ЛНУВМБТ шен1 С.З. Гжицького Том 11 № 2(41) Частина 2, 2009
Anna Lojszczyk - Szczepaniak, Klaudiusz Szczepaniak*©
Laboratory of Radiology and Ultrasonography, Department and Clinic of Animal Surgery Sub - Department of Parasitology and Invasive Diseases, Institute of Biological Bases of Animal Diseases University of Life Science in Lublin, Poland
ULTRASONOGRAPHIC EVALUATION OF RED-EARED SLIDER TERRAPINS (TRACHEMYS SCRIPTA ELEGANS) - CLINICAL OBSERVATIONS
Eleven healthy red-eared slider turtles (Trachemys scripta elegans) were examined ultrasonograpically. Six soft tissue areas of the ingument were used as acoustic windows: cervicobrachial, axillary and prefemoral of right and left sides. The liver and cardiac silhouette were clearly visible in all cases. Thyroid was visualized in eight turtles, urinary bladder in five. There were not visualized ovaries out of the breeding season as well as pancreas and spleen. In eight animals there was exhibited the presence of preovulatory follicles and eggs at varied developmental phases. The preovulatory follicles were seen in two cases. The eggs were also observed in two turtles. In four animals, there were displayed both, eggs and preovulatory follicles at different developmental stages.
Key words: ultrasonography, red - eared slider turtle, Trachemys scripta elegans
Introduction
The image diagnostics of turtles, especially X-ray study, encounters a number of challenges arising from the specific features of turtle anatomy. The presence of the plastron and carapace considerably hinders the precise visualization of the internal organs. A small amount of the adipose tissue surrounding the organs causes reduced image resolution. Another hardship not common for mammals proves to be a specific topography of the internal organs resulting from a lack of diaphragm. Owing to the lack of clearly demarcated thorax and abdomen in turtles, similarly shadowing organs are in the immediate vicinity that makes their images overlap (1, 2). Therefore, X-ray evaluation should be aided in with another helpful and valuable modality of image diagnosis - ultrasound technique.
The present paper discusses the ultrasound findings of parenchymatous organs in healthy turtles. Under normal conditions, these organs are typically not visible on radiographic scans.
Material and Methods
In the years 2008-2009 in the Laboratory of Radiology and Ultrasonography, the Department and Clinic of Animal Surgery, there was undertaken ultrasound evaluation of eleven healthy red-eared slider female turtles at different age. The study was made with the 5 - 7,5 MHz endorectal microconvex transducer using 6 acoustic windows: cervicobrachial, axillary and prefemoral on the left and right side. The animals were manually restrained without sedation.
© Anna Lojszczyk - Szczepaniak, Klaudiusz Szczepaniak, 2009
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Results
A cardiac silhouette and caudally positioned liver with gall bladder were visualized on the radiographs of all the animals. Both, heart atria and ventricle are exhibited as oval anechogenic structures surrounded by the echogenic wall. Between the cardiac ventricle and atria, there are found mitral valves, whose motion is easily observed in the ultrasonographic examination.
Echogenicity of the liver, which in turtles occupies a larger part of the pleuroperitoneal cavity is similar to this organ echogenicity reported in mammals. The oval-shaped, thin-walled aechogenic gall bladder is located in the caudal right liver lobe. Hepatic vessels are seen as anechogenic structures and part of them with a hyperechogenic wall, just like the portal vein in mammals. The easily identified posterior caval vein (right hepatic vein) together with the left hepatic vein run towards the heart which is found in the medial line in the immediate neighborhood of the liver, cranially.
The well expressed, of oval shape and uniform echogenicity thyroid was visualized in eight individuals as ventral and cranial to the cardiac silhouette, in the median line.
The urinary bladder was seen in five animals as thin-walled anechogenic, oval structure located in the caudal pleuroperitoneal cavity. In the other six individuals, its assessment was impossible owing to inadequate filling of the bladder.
There were not visualized ovaries out of the breeding season as well as pancreas and spleen.
In eight animals there was exhibited the presence of preovulatory follicles and eggs at varied developmental phases. They occupied the whole space from the liver to the urinary bladder. The preovulatory follicles of oval shape and different size and uniform echogenicity were seen in two individuals. The eggs of uniform echogenicity surrounded by a pocket filled with anechogenic fluid were also observed in two turtles. In four animals, there were displayed both, eggs and preovulatory follicles at different developmental stages.
Conclusions
The ultrasonographic study of turtles has remained a species-specific challenge, thus visualization of all the internal organs in the pleuroperitoneal cavity is difficult to obtain. However, the examination makes a useful complementary diagnostic tool to support the radiological evaluation and is likely to be applied in an even wider-scale in this animal species. It may be very helpful for the assessment of some changes incidence within the liver, thyroid and urinary bladder region. Besides, this study has proven most effective to differentiate the preovulatory follicle stasis (POFS) and post ovulatory ovi stasis syndrome (POOS), which are most common disorders in the reptile reproduction. References
1. Lojszczyk - Szczepaniak A., Szczepaniak K. O. Diagnostyka ultrasonograficzna zolwi czerwonolicych (Trachemys scripta elegans). Mi^dzynarodowe Seminarium organizowane przez Polskie Stowarzyszenie Lekarzy Weterynarii Mafych Zwierz^t, Wisla, 17 - 19 pazdziernika 2008
2. Mader D. R. Reptile Medicine and Surgery, Elsevier, Florida 1996
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