Abdominal computed tomography and exploratory laparotomy have high agreement in dogs with surgical disease.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To compare the results of abdominal CT with exploratory laparotomy in the dog. ANIMALS: 100 client-owned dogs from 1 academic institution. METHODS: Medical records were searched for dogs that had undergone a preoperative abdominal CT scan read by a board-certified veterinary radiologist followed by an exploratory laparotomy. CT and surgical reports were compared. RESULTS: The overall agreement between abdominal CT scan and exploratory laparotomy in all cases was 97%. Overall, there was no evidence that proportion agreement differed on the basis of body condition score, time interval between CT and surgery, or oncologic versus nononcologic disease. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Abdominal CT scan read by a board-certified diplomate is a sensitive presurgical diagnostic tool for surgical abdominal disease in the dog. When performing a specific abdominal surgery, it is acceptable for the surgeon to fully explore the abdomen or forego it for a smaller approach to the organ of interest if an abdominal CT was performed prior.