X-rays:
No obvious masses were found on x-ray (big sigh of relief!) but the intestine pattern was not really normal. Normal intestines show mixed pattern of radiodense (grey) areas and radiolucent (black) areas to indicate intestinal content and gas being mixed around during normal digestion. In the normal x-ray (top), the blue arrows indicate gas and digesta filled intestines. Tigger’s xrays (below) show only radiodense areas. The abnormal intestines are marked by red arrows. |
Ultrasound:
Apart from being able to measure intestinal walls and better visualize soft tissue structures like the spleen, pancreas, and liver, ultrasound shows how structures can move. The challenge with presenting ultrasound images alone is that we miss seeing the movement that comes with this technology. In Tigger’s case, apart from thickened intestines, there was no movement (peristalsis) observed. This condition is known as ileus and is not normal. Thickened intestines occurs in both IBD and cancer so ultrasound proved that something was wrong but that the changes were so far limited to the intestines. |
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