At Palmerston Vets in we use diagnostic equipment to investigate conditions which aren’t always evident during a clinical examination.
Buckhurst Hill has a range of facilities including x-ray and ultrasound. Romford and Oakhill also have facilities for x-ray. We use self-employed vet Andrew Holloway, formerly of the Animal Health Trust, for more complex ultrasounds such as heart tumours, bladders conditions and the detection of other foreign bodies.
Both x-rays and ultrasounds are examples of medical imaging. They are painless and non-invasive.
Ultrasound uses high frequency sound waves and is a useful tool for imaging soft tissue such as the liver, bladder, heart and kidneys.
Our team will use an ultrasound probe, which sends out pulses of very high frequency sound, which penetrate the body’s tissues. Some of the sound waves are reflected when they meet an internal surface. The probe measures these reflected waves to create an image on screen.
X-rays produce images of the inside of the body and are an effective way of looking at bones as well as some soft tissue. Animals may need to be anaesthetised or sedated to prevent movement during the procedure.