Quote:
Originally Posted by MyFairLacy  I thought an ultrasound was normally done before surgery to confirm a shunt? |
Most of the time, ultrasounds are inconclusive, meaning that the dog may very well have a shunt, but it is not seen on the u/s because of it's position, etc. U/S are more effective for looking at the size of the liver to see if it has atrophied and also for looking for bladder stones which are very common in dogs with shunts. Since most of the time, they don't see a shunt, the next step they recommend is a scintigraphy for finding the shunt....BUT it requires anesthesia...So, Dr. Center does a Protein C test first instead of the scintigraphy because it does not require anesthesia and is very simple...This test helps determine if there is a shunt or MVD...