Endoscopy is an examination that makes it possible to see the inside of various organs in the body. It can be useful when we investigate various diseases but is rarely the first thing we use when sick animals come to the clinic. The endoscope consists of a tube with a fiber optic cable and a light source. The light enters the endoscope and we can look into a peephole and see what it looks like at the end of the cable. We have the whole thing connected to a video system so we can see it all on a large screen and that we can take pictures and films along the way. We have two different scopes. One is rigid while the other is flexible so we can look into the rectum, ears, nose, lungs, stomach, front part of the small intestine, large intestine, vagina, bladder, joints, abdomen and chest cavity. The animals that will be examined with endoscopy must always have anesthesia. This is to be able to perform the examination, to prevent the animal from becoming anxious, and to protect expensive equipment from damage.
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Copy of nose
Diseases in the nose can manifest themselves in many ways. There may be sneezing, sniffling, snot from one or both nostrils, nosebleeds or swelling. Most often, scopy will be part of the examination together with x-rays, cultivation for bacteria or fungi and cytology where we look at cells from a nasal rinse. During the scopy we see the inside of the nose and we can detect inflammation, foreign bodies such as ears of wheat, grass, small twigs or tumors. The endoscope has its own biopsy channel that allows us to take small tissue samples/biopsies that we can analyze. We can also remove foreign bodies with the endoscope. A common problem for cats is grass in the nose. This can manifest itself as either mild sneezing or sniffling, but the cats can also become really sick with vomiting, dehydration and a severely reduced general condition. Most often, you can pick the grass out with forceps in the back of the mouth, but sometimes we have to use forceps through the biopsy channel. In the summer we have 1 to 2 cats every week with grass in their noses. The cause of the problem is most often that the cats eat grass and then throw it up. The grass sneaks up into their noses and gets stuck there.
Scopy of the airways
This is useful in connection with diseases of the trachea or long-term lung disease. Long-term cough, cough that cannot be treated with medication, acute cough where we suspect a debris/foreign body in the lungs, difficulty breathing or findings on chest X-rays are some reasons why we do this examination. The scope allows us to see the inside of the trachea and the largest bronchi. It is often interesting to do a rinse of the respiratory tract. We then inject a small amount of water and quickly suck it back. This fluid can be sent for bacteriological examination or we can examine it under a microscope to see if there is inflammation present. Tracheal collapse in small dog breeds and asthma in cats are two classic diseases where endoscopy is particularly useful.
Scan of the stomach and intestines
Sometimes we receive patients with suspected foreign bodies in the stomach and intestines. Then the endoscope is nice to have. We can examine the stomach, stomach and small intestine, large intestine or both. We often examine both the front and back since quite extensive preparations are required for these examinations. Then it is good to examine the "entire" canal when you first start. The animals must be fasted for between 24 and 48 hours for these examinations. If we are going to examine the large intestine, they must also drink some rinsing fluid according to a special recipe. We start with the esophagus, then go into the stomach and further into the duodenum as far as the scope can reach. Then the animal is turned and we examine the large intestine all the way up to the cecum at the transition between the small and large intestines.
Along the way, we look for abnormalities and take many biopsies. During this examination, it is not uncommon to take between 25 and 30 small biopsies. These are sent for examination by a pathologist and are often just as important as the visual examination. Belching, prolonged vomiting, bloody vomiting, diarrhea, bloody diarrhea, weight loss and pain during defecation are some reasons to do examinations with the scope, but it is important to examine the animal well in advance. Blood tests and X-ray examinations are important in the evaluation of the vast majority of patients with these problems. During the examination, we can detect inflammation of the stomach, stomach ulcers, foreign bodies in the stomach and tumors in the stomach and intestines, but it is important to take enough samples along the way so that we can get an accurate diagnosis when we start treatment. In some cases, we can also remove foreign bodies using the endoscope so that the patient does not have to undergo surgical treatment. The endoscope is a very useful tool in the evaluation of some patients. Please contact us at the clinic if you think your animal should be examined or if you have any questions for us.
In the following video with accompanying pictures we use our ear irrigation instrument (Storz video otoscope). In the video you can see how we use irrigation/suction and angulation of the instrument in the ear canal to remove a lump of old earwax. In addition, we remove debris and wax that is lying along the canal and hair that grows deep inside or that enters the ear canal from the outside. This is done with a gentle brush. We also have the option of using forceps if we need to grasp something with precision.
This dog has otitis externa, an inflammation of the skin in the outer ear canal. In dogs, the inflammation can often be caused by parasites, foreign bodies, or allergies.
To make matters more complicated, the shape of the ear can make a dog prone to ear infections. A narrower ear canal with or without an unnatural amount of hair in the outer and/or inner part of the ear canal provides less ventilation and creates persistent humidity. This weakens the skin barrier and makes it more susceptible to inflammation. The inflammation can lead to the production of more earwax and ear discharge. This provides poor to no ventilation of the ear and can create a chronic ear infection.
Ear flushing with a video otoscope is a particularly effective and gentle way to clean the ears because we eliminate all debris quickly without damaging the skin in the ear canal.
