Question: How is a Toothbrush like a CT Scan?

You may well ask what a toothbrush has to do with a CT scan. Well, you are just about to find out!

Right - a selected CT slice showing the mass in Frog's abdomen.

View a cutdown video of Frog's CT scan.

Oral-B has had a long and successful advertising campaign with ‘the toothbrush more dentists use’ slogan. At the Southern Animal Referral Centre we could not help but notice the comparison between the toothbrush catchphrase and a recent referral to our outpatient CT service. The value of the service is underlined when external veterinarians choose to utilise the service for their very own family pets.

Recently one strong veterinary referrer rang with an enquiry for an outpatient CT. The pet in question was a geriatric dog named ‘Frog’ who had developed a distended abdomen. The vet in question had identified that a mass was present, but was undecided about whether surgery was an option. The only real piece of information available was that the mass was big, really big! We can vouch for the fact that the vet in question (and of course all vets in general) carefully considers the options for diagnosis and treatment for all animals. However, the value and importance of this process was driven home by the fact that this was his own four-legged family member under in the spotlight.

Historically the definitive way to determine the invasiveness of this mass would have been to perform an exploratory laparotomy, where the patient was surgically opened and the abdominal cavity physically investigated. As can be appreciated, this would have been a relatively invasive procedure. Added to this, effectively anything and everything can be expected in such circumstances. The term ‘exploratory’ is not to be underestimated in exploratory surgery.

Fortunately the veterinary industry is ever evolving, and new diagnostics are continually finding their way into everyday use. Knowing that his own pet’s welfare was under consideration, the vet in question weighed his options carefully and chose to look before he leaped. Frog was booked in for a non-invasive but relatively new diagnostic procedure which has been available in the human field for almost two decades – Frog was bundled off for a CT scan!

At this point you can be forgiven for thinking that CT scanning may be extreme or overkill for a pet. The opposite could not be more true. CT scans are performed several times daily at the Southern Animal Referral Centre and take a very short amount of time. The actual average scan time is typically only around one minute with many animals proceeding directly to surgery thereafter in inpatient situations.

Frog’s scan was no different to the typical situation described. Frog was anaesthetised and placed on the scanner bed. All pets must undergo a general anaesthetic to prevent movement during the scan. After positioning and entry of his basic details, his abdominal scan took around one minute, and the results were available faster than if we had taken and developed a traditional x-ray (perhaps one day we will set up an internal competition to prove this fact conclusively).

As with all diagnostics, you never know what you’ll find until you do the test. In Frog’s circumstance two facts were proved. The first was that the mass was indeed large…very large. The second, and critical fact, was that the mass was only loosely attached to surrounding tissue and could be easily excised. After review of the scans and a quick discussion about surgical planning, Frog returned to his owner’s vet practice where surgery took place. Not only did the vet know exactly what he was dealing with prior to making the first incision, he also had with him a full electronic copy of the CT image set complete with a viewer. This allowed the vet to have the full set of images available digitally during the surgery.

The rest is a story which is now behind Frog and his owner. Surgery progressed and was completed successfully by Frog’s very own personal family vet and extremely dedicated owner. Frog recovered and has since returned home to resume his daily pottering around the house and regular naps. We recently called in on the vet in question and a month or so after surgery Frog is back to his old self, minus one very large abdominal mass!

Although the CT scanning service is unlikely to be branded as the ‘imaging service more veterinarians use’, we can’t help but think that this particular vet may be receiving an Oral-B toothbrush in his Christmas stocking as a reminder of Frog’s visit to the Centre.

If you have a query about the outpatient CT Service at the Southern Animal Referral Centre, please do not hesitate to contact us on (03) 9532 5261. Outpatient scans are by appointment only and you must have a referral from your primary care vet.

Back