Quantitative analysis of ultrasonographic images and cytology in relation to histopathology of canine and feline liver: An ex-vivo study

• We used ultrasound histogram analysis to detect pathological changes of the liver.
• Histogram parameters have been calculated on dog and cat ex-vivo liver samples.
• Histogram analysis is a fair test to detect pathological changes of the liver.
• Matching cytology and histogram analysis improved diagnostic accuracy only in the dog.

The aims of the present study were to investigate, in a standardized experimental condition, the usefulness of histogram analysis on ex-vivo ultrasonographic images of the liver of dogs and cats compared with histological alterations and to evaluate whether the combination of histogram parameters and cytology might improve diagnostic accuracy referring to optical microscopy as gold standard. Histogram-based parameters were calculated on ultrasonographic images of liver tissue samples collected from the cadavers of 68 dogs and 31 cats. Standard deviation of the histogram (SDH) had a higher sensitivity and specificity in the detection of the lesions in cat compared with dog. Matched results of cytology and SDH improved sensitivity and specificity in dog whereas no substantial improvement was evident in cat. Quantitative analysis of ultrasonographic images of the liver in dog and cat could become a potentially useful tool in the distinction between normal and pathological organs.