Diagnostic Imaging

Essential Insight into Your Pet's Condition

An accurate diagnosis is essential to select the proper treatment. At MidWestVET, we employ several sophisticated diagnostic techniques to help ascertain the specific ailment with as much information as possible. The diagnostic modalities used most commonly at MidWestVET are:

Digital Radiography

Digital radiography (DR) is essentially filmless X-ray image capture. In place of traditional film and the associated costs and potential toxicities, a digital image capture device is used to record the X-ray image and make it viewable as a digital file.

The many advantages of DR include:

Speed – images can be viewed and manipulated immediately without time to develop
Quality – contrast and visibility of images can be enhanced for even greater detail
Accessibility – digital images can be shared, transferred, stored in the patient’s electronic medical record and viewed anywhere there is an internet connection
Safety – less radiation is needed to produce a digital image so exposure for the pet and the technician is reduced
Cost – greater cost efficiency can be realized without film, storage and processing

Ultrasonography

Ultrasound is one of the most common diagnostic imaging procedures in use today and its relatively low cost makes it an excellent choice to detect and monitor disease. Using sound waves at different frequencies to visualize the heart and abdomen, ultrasonography provides excellent detail of soft tissue structures. It is a non-invasive imaging method used to diagnose and stage many diseases. This procedure can be done on an outpatient basis and most of the time no sedation is required.

Computed Tomography (CT Scan)

Computed Tomography (CT) scanning is a modality that uses x-rays to acquire three-dimensional, cross sectional images of the body with high contrast resolution. This makes it an excellent diagnostic tool to identify disease in the thorax, nasal cavity and abdomen. CT scans are also used to detect metastases in the lungs which is valuable prognostic information.

While patients must be anesthetized for the imaging procedure, it is painless and normally can be completed in less than two hours. Our consulting radiologists are available to review the images and provide a rapid, detailed interpretation.