Ultrasound anatomy of the liver, spleen, and urogenital tract in red tail Boa constrictor

Abstract

Economic interest has led to improved management techniques when raising snakes in captivity. The demand for animals for legally breeding wildlife as pets becomes a challenge to veterinarians, who have little information about these animals, when compared to the amount of existing data on the clinic and management of domestic pets. There are several reports in the literature on reptile morphophysiology, but there are few reports regarding the description of its ultrasound anatomy, and even fewer on snakes. Thus, the present review is meant to clarify information regarding the ultrasound anatomy of Boa constrictor, addressing topics on the morphophysiology of the organs most studied from the ultrasonographic point of view and techniques. Ultrasound has proved to be a valuable noninvasive technique, which provides real-time information about the morphophysiology of the evaluated organs and it has also proved to be an advantageous technique for the diagnosis of pregnancy in snakes, as well as for evaluation of the structures most commonly studied, such as the hepatic and renal systems and the genitourinary tract.