EMILIAN SHABANI, AVNI ROBAJ, KASTRIOT BELEGU, ROMEO BOÇI
Department of Preclinic Subjects, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Agricultural University, Tirana, Albania
Department of Veterinary Science, Faculty of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Prishtina, Kosovo.
PAZA project, Tirana, Albania.
*Corresponding author; avni.robaj@uni_pr.edu
Abstract
For pregnancy diagnosis in sheep have been used various methods (clinical, radiologic, ultrasonographic and hormonal). Both pregnancy and fetal numbers are accurately diagnosed by using radiography after day 70 of gestation. A-mode and Doppler ultrasonic techniques accurately detect pregnancy during the second half of gestation. Fetal numbers cannot be determined by A-mode ultrasound, while the Doppler technique needs experience to achieve high accuracy. Transrectal B-mode, realtime ultrasonography identifies the embryonic vesicles as early as d 12.8 days after mating, but the sensitivity of the technique for pregnancy is very low (12%) earlier than 25 days after mating. Transabdominal B-mode ultrasonography achieved high accuracy for pregnancy diagnosis (94% to 100%) and the determination of fetal numbers (92% to 99%) on day 29 to 106 of gestation. Realtime, B-mode ultrasonography appears to be the most practical and accurate method for diagnosing pregnancy and determining fetal numbers in sheep.
Keywords: Ultrasonography; radiology; diagnosis; sheep; pregnancy.
