Trans-vaginal echographic approach to early pregnancy diagnosis in small ruminants

Aria, Giorgio and Shou, Zhang and Botta, Roberto and Giuliotti, Lorella and Rota, Alessandra (2004) Trans-vaginal echographic approach to early pregnancy diagnosis in small ruminants. Annali della Facoltà di Medicina veterinaria, LVII/2 . pp. 35-42. ISSN 0365-4729

Preview

PDF Download (160Kb) | Preview

Abstract

SUMMARY The A.A. relate about preliminary results from a total of 79 echographic sessions for transvaginal pregnancy diagnoses performed on adult pluriparous sheep (48) and goats (3), in late autumn 2004. Each female was subjected to: a) a simple trans-vaginal examination, b) a transvaginal examination with lifted abdomen and c) a classic trans-abdominal trans-cutaneous pregnancy diagnosis. In many cases a confirmatory echographic follow-up was repeated a week later or more. For trans-vaginal examinations a 5 MHz, lubricated, convex probe was inserted in the vaginal cavity of the sheep, held in a standing position, and the results were always compared with those obtained by trans-cutaneous examination, in the sitting constrained animal (Tab. Ia and Ib). At first TVAL, on the 51 examined animals 28 resulted pregnant; 18 notpregnant (two with pathologic uterine collections) and 5 dubious. In spite of our still limited experience, the method including abdominal lifting resulted rapid, early, safe, reliable and easy, therefore the main target of this preliminary note has been to highlight the possibility of checking early pregnancies in small ruminants by TVAL. Smaller echographic probes and more on field experiences are still required for better evaluation of the method and for its extension to younger nulliparous ewe-lambs. RIASSUNTO Gli autori riferiscono i risultati ottenuti nel corso di 79 esperienze di diagnosi di gravidanza ecografica per via trans-vaginale effettuate nell’autunno 2004 su 51 soggetti (48 pecore e 3 capre adulte e pluripare) mediante una sonda convessa da 5 MHz. La tecnica per via vaginale applicata in soggetti mantenuti in stazione quadrupedale, è risultata più semplice e veloce di quella trans-addominale ed igienicamente più accettabile di quella trans-rettale. Qualche difficoltà diagnostica si è osservata in condizioni di gravidanza avanzata o di rilassamento legamentoso dell’utero, connesso all’età ed alla carriera riproduttiva del soggetto, per cui, nei casi in prima istanza negativi, è apparso sempre indispensabile il ricorso al sollevamento della parete addominale.

Repository staff only actions