Transabdominal Renal Doppler Ultrasound in Healthy Adult Holstein-Friesian Cows: A Pilot Study.
Authors: Barreiro-Vázquez J Daniel, Miranda Marta, Barreiro-Lois Andrés
Journal: Animals : an open access journal from MDPI
Summary
# Editorial Summary: Renal Doppler Ultrasound Reference Values in Cattle Whilst Doppler ultrasound assessment of renal resistive and pulsatility indices is well-established in human and equine medicine as a non-invasive diagnostic tool for renal disease, comparable reference values for cattle have been entirely absent from the literature. This pilot study addressed that gap by developing a transabdominal ultrasound protocol in healthy Holstein-Friesian cows and establishing baseline Doppler measurements from the renal hilum vessels. The researchers documented mean resistive index (RI) and pulsatility index (PI) values of 0.49±0.07 and 0.70±0.15 respectively for the right kidney, and 0.53±0.05 and 0.79±0.11 for the left, proposing clinical cut-off thresholds of 0.63 for RI and 1.00 for PI to distinguish normal from abnormal findings. Importantly, the study highlights a significant practical limitation: whilst the right kidney is consistently accessible via transabdominal approach, the left kidney remains rarely visualisable in cattle, restricting bilateral assessment. For bovine practitioners, these reference parameters now provide an objective baseline for evaluating suspected renal pathology in clinical cases, though future work should establish how RI and PI values change across different disease states to validate their diagnostic utility in practice.
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Practical Takeaways
- •These reference values provide the first bovine baseline for renal Doppler ultrasound assessment, enabling future diagnosis of renal pathologies in cattle through Doppler indices comparison
- •Right kidney evaluation is reliable in clinical practice; left kidney assessment remains limited due to acoustic accessibility constraints
- •RI and PI values exceeding 0.63 and 1.00 respectively may warrant further investigation for renal parenchymal disease in cattle
Key Findings
- •Normal renal resistive index (RI) for right kidney: 0.49 ± 0.07 and left kidney: 0.53 ± 0.05 in healthy Holstein-Friesian cows
- •Normal pulsatility index (PI) for right kidney: 0.70 ± 0.15 and left kidney: 0.79 ± 0.11
- •Suggested upper cut-off values for healthy cows: RI ≤0.63 and PI ≤1.00
- •Right kidney consistently accessible via transabdominal ultrasound; left kidney rarely accessible in cattle