Department of Animal Medicine, Production and Health, Clinical Section, Radiology Unit, University of Padua, Viale dell'Università 16, Agripolis, Legnaro, Padua, Italy.
Vet Rec. 2013 Jul 13;173(2):43-9. doi: 10.1136/vr.101450.
Snakes and lizards are considered 'stoic' animals and often show only non-specific signs of illness. Consequently, diagnostic imaging--along with clinical examination and laboratory tests--is gaining importance in making a final diagnosis and establishing a correct therapy. The large number of captive snake and lizard species commonly kept as pets, together with the high inter- and intraspecific morphological variability that is innate in these animals, make the analysis of diagnostic images challenging for the veterinary practitioner. Moreover, a thorough knowledge of the anatomy, physiology and pathology of the species that are the object of clinical investigation is mandatory for the correct interpretation of diagnostic images. Despite the large amount of clinical and scientific work carried out in the past two decades, the radiographic features of snakes and lizards have not undergone systematic description, and therefore veterinarians often have to rely mostly on anatomical studies rather than radiological literature. The aim of this paper is to review the most commonly used diagnostic imaging modalities, as well as to provide an overview of the available international original studies and scientific reviews describing the normal and pathological imaging features in snakes and lizards.
蛇和蜥蜴被认为是“坚忍”的动物，通常只表现出非特异性的疾病迹象。因此，诊断成像——连同临床检查和实验室测试——在做出最终诊断和建立正确治疗方面变得越来越重要。大量作为宠物饲养的圈养蛇和蜥蜴物种，以及这些动物固有的高度种内和种间形态变异，使得兽医从业者在分析诊断图像时面临挑战。此外，对作为临床研究对象的物种的解剖学、生理学和病理学有透彻的了解，是正确解释诊断图像所必需的。尽管在过去二十年中进行了大量的临床和科学工作，但蛇和蜥蜴的放射特征尚未进行系统描述，因此兽医通常不得不主要依赖解剖学研究，而不是放射学文献。本文的目的是回顾最常用的诊断成像方式，并概述描述蛇和蜥蜴的正常和病理成像特征的国际原始研究和科学综述。
