Ultrasounding the Pediatric patient.

Sonopath Forum

Ultrasounding the Pediatric patient.

On my hunt for willing and mega compliant victims to practice my scanning techniques, I thought I would give scanning a puppy a try.

On my hunt for willing and mega compliant victims to practice my scanning techniques, I thought I would give scanning a puppy a try.

  • This is R.J.
  • A 3-month old F Mixed breed shelter dog weighing in at 8.5 lbs who was a bit dehydrated with possible Parvo.
  • Blood work and 24 hours of yummy I.V. fluids later proved this was not the case.
  • She was drinking water on her own, but still not interested in food.  Good for ultrasound exam, but I would have preferred her to be feeling better and eating.
  • R.J. was more than happy to get her little pink belly rubbed (and scanned) despite the gel and alcohol being a mite chilly.
  • I however had some difficulties navigating through her small abdomen.  I was able to locate her bladder (couldn’t get the long view to see her urethra).  Found her kidneys, although that right one was hiding immensely well. Her heart was in the right place and working too, (well I should hope so! 🙂 )
  • [videoembed id=6953]
  • The abdomen was a bit busy. There seemed to be a lot going on and I couldn’t definitely say “Yup that’s the spleen/liver/stomach, etc.  I am pretty convinced at the gallbladder’s location (assuming I was in the liver) but it looked rather big for such a small gal.
  • Can someone please tell me what the structure is in the 3rd image? It appears to have a fairly defined shape and thick wall to it.

Is it more difficult to visualize organs in the pediatric patient?  Or is it not a question of pediatric but simply small size? Thank you in advance!

Skip to content