Though identification of lymph nodes is essential in staging cancer patients, little has been reported about the CT features of canine abdominal lymph nodes. The purpose of this retrospective study was to describe the visibility, location, and characteristics of abdominal lymph nodes in abdominal CT studies of dogs considered unlikely to have lymphadenopathy. The relationship between the number of identified lymph nodes and intraabdominal fat ranking, body weight, and slice thickness was also investigated. A total of 19 dogs were included. At least two jejunal lymph nodes and both left and right medial iliac lymph nodes were identified in all dogs. Colic lymph nodes were not identified in any of the dogs. Visualization of all other lymph nodes varied. There were significantly more lymph nodes visible in dogs with more intraabdominal fat (P < 0.0001). No correlation between the number of identified lymph nodes and body weight (P = 0.64) or slice thickness (P = 0.76) was found. Though most of all identified lymph nodes had an elongated shape, a rounded shape was most common in splenic, pancreaticoduodenal, renal, ileocolic and caudal mesenteric lymph nodes. Most lymph nodes had a homogeneous structure before and following the intravenous administration of contrast medium. Some lymph nodes had a slightly irregular structure or were relatively more hyper attenuating in the periphery than centrally before and/or after contrast administration. Mean attenuation before contrast was 37 Hounsfield Units (HU) (range 20-52 HU), and 109 HU after contrast (range 36-223 HU). Findings indicated that the CT visibility, characteristics of different abdominal lymph nodes may be variable in dogs.

Objective Accurate diagnostic testing to identify SARS–CoV-2 infection is critical. Although highly specific, SARS–CoV-2 reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), has shown, in clinical practice, to be affected by a non-insignificant proportion of false negative results. The study sought to explore whether the integration of lung ultrasound (LUS) with clinical evaluation is associated with increased sensitivity for the diagnosis of COVID-19 pneumonia, and therefore may facilitate the identification of false negative SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR results. Methods This prospective cohort study enrolled consecutive adult patients with symptoms potentially related to SARS-CoV-2 infection admitted to the emergency department (ED) of an Italian academic hospital. Immediately after the initial assessment, a LUS evaluation was performed and the likelihood SARS-CoV-2 infection, based on both clinical and LUS findings (“integrated” assessment), was recorded. RT-PCR SARS-CoV-2 detection was subsequently performed. Results We enrolled 228 patients; 107 patients (46.9%) had SARS-CoV-2 infection. Sensitivity and negative predictive value of the clinical-LUS integrated assessment were higher than first RT-PCR [94.4% (95% CI 88.2-97.9), vs. 80.4% (95% CI 71.6-87.4); 95% (95% CI 89.5-98.2), vs. 85.2% (95% CI 78.3-90.6)]. Among the 142 patients who initially had negative RT-PCR, 21 resulted positive at a subsequent molecular test performed within 72 hours. All these false negative cases were correctly identified by the integrated assessment. Conclusion This study suggests that, in patients presenting to the ED with symptoms commonly associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection, the integration of LUS with clinical evaluation has high sensitivity and specificity for COVID-19 pneumonia and it may help to identify false negative results occurring with RT-PCR.

Diagnosis of gastric tumors in dogs is difficult and is often obtained by biopsy following identification of a mass through ultrasound (US) or endoscopy. In human medicine, modalities such as CT and endoscopy are standard of care in the diagnosis and staging of gastric tumors. Although one veterinary study has described CT findings of gastric tumors in dogs using iatrogenic gas dilation, there are no veterinary studies that have directly compared the usefulness of US versus CT in the diagnosis and staging of these tumors. This retrospective, descriptive study evaluated US and CT images from 13 dogs. Gastric tumor diagnoses included leiomyoma (n = 4), adenocarcinoma (n = 3), leiomyosarcoma (n = 3), gastrointestinal stromal tumor (n = 2), and lymphoma (n = 1). Computed tomography was successful in identification of 92% of gastric tumors, while US identified only 69%. Computed tomography identified more locations of lymphadenopathy and correctly identified the location of gastric tumors more frequently than US when compared to the surgical, endoscopic, or necropsy reports. Most features seen on US and CT overlapped between the different tumor types. Lymphoma had a lower mean attenuation in CT than the other gastric tumors and was the only gastric tumor to not have complete loss of the gastric wall layering on US. As expected, adenocarcinoma appeared as gastric wall thickening with regional lymphadenopathy.Findings supported using CT as an ancillary diagnostic test for characterizing and staging gastric tumors in dogs and assisting in the selection of surgical candidates. K E Y W O R D Sadvanced cross sectional imaging, canine, neoplasia, stomach INTRODUCTIONGastric tumors are rare in dogs, accounting for less than 1% of all neoplasms diagnosed. 1 The most common gastric tumor in dogs is adenocarcinoma, but tumors such as lymphoma, leiomyosarcoma, leiomyoma, extramedullary plasmacytoma, fibrosarcoma, gastroin-ABBREVIATIONS: GIST, gastrointestinal stromal tumor; US, ultrasound Previous publication or presentation disclosure: Presented in poster format at the 2019 National Veterinary Scholars Symposium in Worcester, MA EQUATOR network disclosure: EQUATOR network checklist was not used. testinal stromal tumor (GIST), mast cell tumor, and polyps are also reported. 2-4 Diagnosis is difficult and often occurs late in the disease process, making prognosis poor due to the likelihood of metastases. At this point of time, no clear consensus in veterinary medicine has been provided in regard to the selection of CT over ultrasound (US) in the detection and staging of patients with gastric neoplasia, especially if surgery is being considered. Delineating what diagnostic test is of value and highlighting limitations of modalities may help the radiologist and clinician to make better recommendations for their patients.Abdominal US and endoscopy have been the imaging modalities of

English Bulldogs have been reported to demonstrate abnormal growth and development of the nasal turbinates, which contribute to an increase in airway resistance and hence clinical signs of brachycephalic airway syndrome. The purpose of this prospective, cross-sectional study was to assess the prevalence and severity of caudal aberrant turbinate protrusion via CT studies of English Bulldogs with, according to the owners, none or minimal clinical signs of brachycephalic airway syndrome. An additional objective was to propose a classification scheme for describing the degree of caudal aberrant turbinate protrusion in English Bulldogs and to apply this scheme in assessing the effect of gender, weight, and age on prevalence and severity of turbinate protrusion. The nasal cavities of 40 clinically healthy English Bulldogs were examined. The prevalence of caudal aberrant turbinates in this group was 100%. Using our proposed classification scheme, Grade 1 (minimal) was detected in 7 of 40 (17.5%), Grade 2 (mild) in 28 of 40 (70%), and Grade 3 (moderate) in 5 of 40 (12.5%) English Bulldogs. No significant effect of gender, weight, and age on degree of protrusion was found. In conclusion, this study identified minimal to moderate protrusion of caudal aberrant turbinates toward the nasopharynx in all the sampled English Bulldogs, despite the absence of clinical signs of brachycephalic airway syndrome.

Toy breed dogs are overrepresented for atlantoaxial instability. Radiography is a standard diagnostic test, however published toy breed-specific radiographic measurements are lacking and diagnosis remains largely subjective. Aims of this retrospective, diagnostic accuracy study were to describe normal values and determine whether some quantitative radiographic criteria strongly support a diagnosis of atlantoaxial instability specific to toy breed dogs. Neutral lateral and ventrodorsal radiographs of 102 toy breed dogs (92 control, 10 affected) were reviewed. The median C1-C2 overlap (the distance of overlap between the C2 spinous process and the dorsal arch of C1) was +4.65 mm in control dogs and -5.00 mm in atlantoaxial instability cases. A C1-C2 overlap ≤ +1.55 mm was the most sensitive (100%) and specific (94.5%) radiographic measurement in the diagnosis of atlantoaxial instability. Three relative measurements were performed: the ventral atlantodental interval to dorsal atlantodental interval ratio, the dens/C2 ratio, and the C1-C2 angle. These three relative measurements had good specificity (94.5, 86.9, and 98.9%, respectively), lower sensitivity (80.0, 66.7, and 60.0%, respectively), and were not influenced by body weight (P > 0.05). Absolute measurements (including absolute dens length and atlantoaxial distance) were significantly correlated with body weight (P < 0.05) diminishing their utility in the diagnosis of atlantoaxial instability. Decreased C1-C2 overlap strongly supports atlantoaxial instability. The ventral atlantodental interval/dorsal atlantodental interval ratio, dens/C2 ratio, and C1-C2 angle may provide further support but may be normal in individual cases.