Evaluation of Different Techniques of Teat Ultrasonography in Goats

The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential of ultrasonography for visualization of teats in goats using different techniques. thirty clinically healthy bulgarian dairy white goats, aged 3-7 years, weighing 45-60 kg were studied. they were between the first and third months of lactation and were reared under an identical production system. the ultrasonography of 60 teats was performed by means of diagnostic ultrasound mindray dp-2200vet (mindray, china) and 5, 7.5 and 10 мhz probes. each teat was scanned by the “direct contact”, “stand off” and “water bath” techniques. the possibility of visualization of teat orifice, teat canal, rosette of furstenberg, teat wall, teat cistern and the boundary between teat and gland cisterns was investigated. the results were processed by statistical software (statsoft, microsoft corp. 1984-2000 inc.). the “direct contact” and “stand off” techniques allowed the visualization of the proximal teat part, but the structures in the distal part of the teat were hardly visible (p<0.05). the probe frequency had a significant impact on the quality of images obtained by these two techniques, and the results were statistically significantly better (p<0.05) when a 10 mhz probe was used. the analysis of results established that the “water bath” technique provided the best imaging options (100%) for observation of teat structures in the goat. the utilization of 10 mhz probe gave a high-quality image and could be recommended for diagnostics of different physiological and pathological changes.