Comparative Ultrasonographic Imaging of Spleen and Liver in Healthy Crossbred Cows

The present study was undertaken to conduct a comparative ultrasonographic study of the normal bovine spleen and liver. This study was carried out in two phases using 3.5 MHz curvilinear transducer. In first phase of water bath study, bovine spleens and livers were obtained from 3 healthy cadavers and subjected to repeated ultrasonography to study the echotexture. The splenic parenchyma was isoechogenic with greater echogenicity as compared to the liver. Water bath study provided a good learning experience for the comparative analysis of echotexture of the spleen and liver. In second phase, 10 healthy Jersey/Red Sindhi adult nonpregnant cows were subjected to detailed abdominal ultrasonography a number of times to develop the baseline topographical data of the spleen and liver. The dorsal end of the spleen in the cranial intercostal spaces could be clearly seen at the peak of inspiration when the lungs retracted to uncover the parietal surface of the spleen. The ventral end of the spleen, portion of the left lung, and the reticular wall could be scanned in the left 7th to 6th ICS in all the cows, and in the left 5th ICS in 5 cows. The liver was imaged from just behind the 12th to 6th ICS in all the cows easily. The gallbladder was imaged as a tear drop or pear shaped anechogenic structure with a hyperechogenic wall. The location of the gallbladder varied from the 12th to 9th ICS. It was most consistently observed in the 11th ICS (in 7 cows) at a mean distance of 46.3 cm from the dorsal midline. In 3 cows, the gallbladder was also seen ventral to the costal arch. The caudal vena cava was imaged as a triangular anechogenic structure on the dorsal border of the liver in the last 2 intercostal spaces in all the cows. The portal vein was imaged characteristically as a star shaped anechogenic structure with a hyperechogenic wall, ventral to the caudal vena cava, in the last 2 intercostal spaces in all the cows and in the 10th ICS in only 8 cows. It was concluded that a systematic ultrasonography formed a basis for a reliable noninvasive determination of positions and sizes of the normal spleen and liver and their vessels in the bovines.