1) Schedule an Appointment: We will make every effort to serve you on the next soonest appointment (same-day and STAT appointments are often available). Appointments can be scheduled in advance for virtually any future date. Our normal business hours are 9 AM to 6 PM, Monday through Friday. After hours and weekend appointments are available for an additional fee.
Add-on Cases: If a PET SCAN appointment(s) has already been scheduled and an additional case(s) arises, please call and notify us so that we may plan accordingly. In nearly all situations, this will not be a problem, but please notify us as soon as possible as add-on cases can affect our ability to serve other scheduled cases that day.
DISCLAIMER: We do not work directly with the general public but rather serve our veterinary partners on a referral basis only. Pet owners are encouraged to contact their primary care veterinarian to request their veterinarian contact us for an ultrasound consultation.
2) Patient Information: We ask that you prepare and have available the following pertinent patient information prior to our arrival for our doctor to review before starting the sonographic examination:
Patient/owner names
Species/breed
Sex (M, MN, F, FS, Unknown)
Age
Copy of recent laboratory results
Radiographs and other recent ancillary diagnostic information
We also ask that the attending veterinarian or delegated technical staff member provide us with a brief verbal medical history upon our arrival. If personnel are not available to provide a verbal medical history, please ensure that an adequate written medical history is prepared and available prior to our arrival.
3) Shave the Patient: Please shave the patient prior to our doctor's arrival as not to further delay the sonographic examination. We also ask that patients arrive at least 20 minutes prior to our arrival so that your staff has adequate time to properly shave the patient and prepare pertinent patient information for our doctor to review.
Abdominal Ultrasounds Abdominal ultrasounds require shaving from the xyphoid process to the caudal abdomen with very wide margins extending laterally over the last 3-4 ribs. This is a shave similar to what's needed for exploratory laparotomy. The shave needs to be clean and to the skin.
Echocardiograms Echocardiograms require a small shaved square (2"x2") in the right & left axial areas and a small square 2"x2" just caudal to the xyphoid process.
4) Brief Technical Assistance: Brief assistance from a hospital technician will be necessary to aid in patient restraint during the exam only. The exam generally takes approximately 30 minutes.
5) Sedation and Anesthesia:Sedation or anesthesia is not required to perform a sonographic examination, but in many abdominal cases the greatest diagnostic yield will come when the patient is completely relaxed. Furthermore, sedation is not usually required for simple fine needle aspirates, but may be requested if a patient is particularly uncooperative. If a more invasive procedure (biopsies, cavity centesis, etc.) is necessary or planned, administration of anesthetic/sedative and patient monitoring is the responsibility of the primary care veterinarian on the case. Please check with our doctor when in doubt with regard to anesthetic choice and effects on the patient (especially for echocardiograms).
6) Immediate Verbal Summary: Throughout the course of each sonographic examination our doctor will provide instant feedback of what is seen along with a working interpretation and possible differential diagnoses, helpful ancillary diagnostics to perform, and/or initial empirical treatment options. At the conclusion of each examination our doctor will also provide a succinct verbal report including interpretation, assessment, and recommendations to the attending veterinarian, if he or she was not present during the study. A comprehensive written report will be submitted to your facility via email or fax the next business day following the sonographic examination.
7) Payment:Payment from the referring veterinary practice is requested at the time of service. We do not accept payments directly from pet owners.
Veterinarians... Please call or text (480) 760-5878 to schedule a mobile ultrasound appointment at your hospital.
Comprehensive Written Reports
RAPID TURN AROUND: Comprehensive type-written reports are generated by our doctor and submitted to your facility via email or fax the next business day following the sonographic examination. Our detailed reports include organ system descriptions, assessment and interpretation of sonographic findings, differential diagnoses and recommendations for pertinent ancillary diagnostics and an initial empirical medical management plan, if warranted.
Case Management Consultation
THE NEXT STEP: Case specific post-examination consultation is perhaps the most valuable aspect of the service we provide. Our doctor's thorough understanding of the majority of disease processes diagnosable with ultrasound and pertinent therapies, prognosis or next best diagnostic step, provides you with the peace of mind needed to proceed with the case and the confidence to go to your client and discuss the findings. Ultrasound is only effective when combined with understanding of the pathophysiology of disease processes that lead to sonographically significant changes. Even when there are no sonographically significant findings, suggestions for the next diagnostic step can be enormously helpful.