Elastografia em suspeita de neoplasia hepática: relato de caso clínico

Abstract

Despite being a relatively new technique and little known in Brazil, elastography has been gaining space on the national scene in the field of diagnostic imaging in Veterinary Medicine. This technique consists of evaluating the elasticity of an organic tissue by measuring the speed of propagation of sound waves through the tissue. Each tissue in the body, whether human or not, has a specific elasticity and changes in this elasticity can be an indicator of a disease. The aim of this case report is to report the use and benefit of the elastography technique for diagnosing a suspected liver neoplasm in an 8-year-old dog, which was brought to the Superintendence of the University Hospital Veterinary Unit of the Universidade Federal da Fronteira Sul, showing increased abdominal volume and greenish emesis. Abdominal puncture was performed with the observation of bloody fluid, which was sent for laboratory analysis. The patient was taken for elastography, where it was reported that the liver parenchyma in the right medial hepatic lobe region indicated heterogeneous areas to compression, demonstrating different density with tension ratios, suggesting loss of resistance to compression, indicating lower tissue density, when compared to regular, being then interpreted as indicative of hepatic and splenic neoplasia. With this in mind, it is concluded that the use of the elastography technique in veterinary medicine, which despite not being fully widespread, has shown promise as an important diagnostic imaging technique, and may be an indication and/or complement to biopsy in some cases.