Introduction

Uses

• For use in the investigation of:
  • Liver:
    • Jaundice.
    • Unexplained raised liver enzymes. 
    • Abnormal appearance of liver on ultrasonographic examination.
    • Diffuse liver disease Liver: disease (inflammatory, infiltrative, neoplastic). 
    • Mass lesions.
  • Kidney disease Kidney: disease:
    • Diffuse diseases (acute or chronic nephritis Kidney: nephritis, eg encephalitozoonosis Encephalitozoonosis). 
    • Protein losing nephropathy. 
    • Mass lesions.
  • Intestine: mass lesions.
  • Thorax: mass lesions of chest wall, mediastinum or lung.
  • Lymph nodes: lymphadenopathy Lymphadenopathy.

Advantages

• Low cost. 
• Minimally-invasive. 
• Rapid. 
• Straight forward in hands of experienced operator. 
• Short time requirement.

Disadvantages

• Requires patient's coat to be clipped. 
• Difficult to obtain samples in obese patients Obesity, from deeply located structures, highly vascularized lesions and in the presence of a large amount of fluid. 
• Samples may be non-diagnostic or non-representative of disease process. 
• Risk of serious complications (bleeding, penetration of viscera, introduction or spread infection, seeding of neoplasia). 
• Requires significant operator skill.
• Sedation Sedation or general anesthesia Anesthesia: overview is usually required in rabbits.

Requirements

Preparation

Procedure

Aftercare

Further Reading

Publications

Refereed papers

• Recent references from PubMed and VetMedResource.
• Seçil M, Dicle O, Göktay A Y et al (1999) Comparison of biopsy devices: sonographically guided percutaneous liver biopsies in rabbits. AJR Am J Roentgenol 173 (5), 1203-1205 PubMed. 
• Barr F (1995) Percutaneous biopsy of abdominal organs under ultrasound guidance. J Small Anim Pract 36 (3), 105-113 PubMed. 
• Léveillé R, Partington B P, Biller D S et al (1993) Complications after ultrasound-guided biopsy of abdominal structures in dogs and cats: 246 cases (1984-1991). JAVMA 203 (3), 413-415 PubMed.
• McNamara M P Jr. (1989) Percutaneous procedures guided by color-flow Doppler sonography. AJR Am J Roentgenol 152 (5), 1123-1125 PubMed. 
• Smith S (1989) Ultrasound-guided biopsy. Semin Vet Med Surg (Small Anim) 4 (1), 95-104 PubMed. 
• Smith S (1985) Ultrasound-guided biopsy. Vet Clin North Am Small Anim Pract 15 (6), 1249-1262 PubMed.

Other sources of information

• Redrobe S (2013) Ultrasonography. In: BSAVA Manual of Rabbit Surgery, Dentistry and Imaging. Eds: Harcourt-Brown F & Chitty J. pp 94-106.