The evolving use of post-mortem veterinary imaging in a university specialist hospital

Veterinary forensic radiology–Development of a cost-effective and easily performed post mortem computed tomographic angiography protocol

“…In a previous retrospective study from the same institution, post mortem imaging (radiographs and PMCT) was found to reach a diagnosis of the cause of death in 57% of cases and of those 85% had a traumatic cause. 8 This is in contrast to the current PMCTA study where pathology accounting for the cause of death was identified in all cases and there was an agreement with necropsy in 83% of cases. Only two of the animals in this study had a traumatic cause of death.…”

“…The variation between the two studies' populations may also be partly responsible for this discrepancy, as in the previous study 86% of cases were requested for medicolegal reasons, as opposed to the current study which represents a cross-section of the general population of animals presenting for necropsy. 8 The addition of contrast to the CT examinations not only aided in the identification of pathology that is contrast-enhanced but also in the identification of lesions due to the pathological absence of contrast enhancement. In one case the addition of contrast enabled the visualisation of strong arterial contrast-enhancing parietal pleural plaques in a young cat enabling an infectious cause such as pyothorax to be placed as the primary differential for the effusion and cause of death.…”

“…Recent studies comparing post mortem computed tomography (PMCT) to necropsy highlight the usefulness of post mortem imaging (PMI) in determining the cause of death. 7,8 The current published veterinary literature on PMCTA is sparse, consisting of case reports or small case series [9][10][11] or pilot case series used for establishing techniques in humans. 12,13 Most of the positive contrast techniques trialled in animals have been conducted by human radiologists for single case reports, and are not practical in a clinical veterinary setting as they require specialised equipment such as a modified heart-lung bypass or expensive contrast agents, both of which are not routinely available.…”