Advanced Abdominal Ultrasound Course with Emily

We all have a keen interest in imaging, and wanted to expand on this knowledge so we can provide a more comprehensive ultrasound service at Westport before considering referral. 

 

The course was in London, so we travelled down together on Wednesday evening before making our way to the CPD on Thursday morning

We were 3 of 13 delegates attending the course. There were some willing doggy volunteers present for us to practice our skills on in exchange for treats.

 

The first day we concentrated on ultrasound of the pancreas and gastrointestinal tract. The pancreas can be a challenging organ to find on ultrasound in the healthy patient. It is important to be able to check for abnormalities in cases of pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas).

 

We then focussed on specific areas of the gastrointestinal tract. Some junctions in the bowel can be common sites for foreign bodies to lodge or for tumours to occur. We all felt confident scanning and checking these areas by the end of the day.

 

After a nice meal out in London on Thursday evening, we were back nice and early to start our second day of CPD on Friday morning. This day we were covering the adrenal glands, major blood vessels and lymph nodes of the abdomen.

 

The adrenal glands can become abnormal in dogs in hyperadrenocorticism. It can be useful to check their size/shape to assist in determining what type is present. We then moved on to the major blood vessels, which can be used to check for vascular pathology but also as landmarks for finding other organs. We then scanned some of the lymph nodes groups in the abdomen, which can be an

important step in staging certain cancers.

 

At the end of the 2 day course we felt we had all made good progress at advancing our imaging abilities, and were keen to get back and put our new knowledge into practice.

 

It was an enjoyable trip to London, and it was lovely meeting people with the same enthusiasm for ultrasound.