Ultrasonographic application in the diagnosis and prognosis of pericarditis in cows.

The present study was conducted on 5 cows diagnosed with late-stage pericarditis based on a combination of clinical, radiographic, ultrasonographic, and postmortem examinations. On clinical examination, all the cows were found to be depressed, dyspnoeic, and moderately to severely tachycardic. The main radiographic findings were poor thoracic details and indistinguishable cardiophrenic silhouette. Ultrasonographically, the pericardial sac contained varying quantities of hypoechogenic exudate and echogenic fibrin shreds, which had caused physical compression of the cardiac chambers. The clinical and radiographic findings did not allow a definitive diagnosis of pericarditis, because all of the characteristic signs were not present in every case. Thoracic and abdominal ultrasonography played an important role in the early diagnosis and prognosis of the disease.