Pulmonary ultrasound findings in a bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus population.

ABSTRACT: Lung disease is common among wild and managed populations of bottlenose dol-phins Tursiops truncatus . The purpose of the study was to apply standardized techniques to theultrasound evaluation of dolphin lungs, and to identify normal and abnormal sonographic findingsassociated with pleuropulmonary diseases. During a 5 yr period (2005 to 2010), 498 non-cardiacthoracic ultrasound exams were performed on bottlenose dolphins at the Navy Marine MammalProgram in San Diego, California, USA. Exams were conducted as part of routine physical exams,diagnostic workups, and disease monitoring. In the majority of routine exams, no abnormal pleu-ral or pulmonary findings were detected with ultrasound. Abnormal findings were typicallydetected during non-routine exams to identify and track disease progression or resolution; there-fore, abnormal results are overrepresented in the study. In order of decreasing prevalence, abnor-mal sonographic findings included evidence of alveolar-interstitial syndrome, pleural effusion,pulmonary masses, and pulmonary consolidation. Of these findings, alveolar-interstitial syndromewas generally nonspecific as it represented several possible disease states. Pairing ultrasoundfindings with clinical signs was critical to determine relevance. Pleural effusion, pulmonarymasses, and pulmonary consolidation were relatively straightforward to diagnose and interpret.Further diagnostics were performed to obtain definitive diagnoses when appropriate, specificallyultrasound-guided thoracocentesis, fine needle aspirates, and lung biopsies, as well as radio -graphs and computed tomography (CT) exams. Occasionally, post mortem gross necropsy andhisto pathology data were available to provide confirmation of diagnoses. Thoracic ultrasound wasdetermined to be a valuable diagnostic tool for detecting pleural and pulmonary diseases in dolphins.KEY WORDS: Cetacean · Diagnostic imaging · Lung disease · Pulmonary