Strain elastography for the assessment of skin nodules in dogs.

BACKGROUND: Strain elastography (SE) is a modern imaging technology that provides an additional way of evaluating the changes in soft tissue elasticity caused by pathophysiological processes. Despite its widespread use in human medicine, only a few studies on the application of SE in veterinary medicine are available. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the potential usefulness of SE as an integrative imaging model in the standard ultrasound technique to better discriminate between inflammatory and neoplastic skin nodules in dogs. ANIMALS: Fifty-one client-owned dogs with clinical evidence of single or multiple skin nodules detected during routine dermatological examination. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Margins, echogenicity, echo-structure, calcification and vascularisation of 65 skin nodules were assessed with ultrasound, and SE was used to score qualitative (E-score, E-index, E2) and semiquantitative (SR) parameters. A comparison of diagnostic yields with cytological and histological findings as the gold standard was performed. RESULTS: Mast cell and benign follicular tumours showed the highest E-scores and SRs among neoplastic nodules; statistically significant differences were not detected. Calcific and nonvascularised nodules showed significantly higher E-index values than the others. Overall, a negative correlation was observed between the longitudinal diameter of skin nodules and the qualitative elastic parameters. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: In this study, SE proved to be useful to identify only a subset of nodules such as mast cells and hair follicular tumours. Although evidence supporting the use of SE in evaluating skin nodules was demonstrated to below, indicators to guide further research were developed.

Computed tomographic and angiographic assessment of spinal extradural arteriovenous fistulas in a dog.

A 6-month-old German shepherd dog was presented for progressive paraparesis. Multiple arteriovenous fistulae and hyperostosis of the thoracic vertebrae with secondary thoraco-lumbar spinal cord compression were diagnosed. Arteriovenous spinal fistula is a rare condition but should be considered as a differential diagnosis in young dogs with progressive paraparesis.

Évaluation par tomodensitométrie et angiographie de fistules artérioveineuses extradurales spinales chez un chien. Un chien Berger allemand âgé de 6 mois a été présenté pour une paraparésie progressive. De nombreuses fistules artérioveineuses et de l'hyperostose des vertèbres thoraciques avec une compression de la colonne vertébrale thoraco-lombaire secondaire ont été diagnostiquées. Les fistules spinales artérioveineuses sont une rare affection mais elles devraient être considérées comme un diagnostic différentiel chez les jeunes chiens atteints de paraparésie progressive.(Traduit par Isabelle Vallières).