Use of contrast sonography to test for tubal patency in dairy cattle

Hysterosalpingo-contrast sonography is an accurate first-line method used to test for tubal patency in human gynecology. Tubal pathology occurs in dairy cattle and is a reason for infertility, but easy and accurate methods to test for tubal patency are not available in the living cow. In this study it was thus investigated if contrast sonography (CS) using Echovist-200 as the echo-contrast medium is a feasible procedure to test for tubal patency in dairy cattle. In eight repeat breeder Holstein Frisian cows, all of them being in behavioral estrus, Echovist-200 was given into the uterus and its exit into the abdominal cavity then imaged by transrectal conventional B-mode ultrasound, and used as indicator for tubal patency. Animals were slaughtered one day later and the genital tracts subjected to gross morphology and histology in order to confirm the results of CS. In two cows, CS was prematurely terminated after examination of one oviduct because of rectal bleeding, while CS completely failed in another cow because of poor image quality. In five cows, both oviducts could be examined by CS, respectively. A total of five oviducts were found patent by CS and confirmed by post mortem examination. Two out of five oviducts diagnosed as occluded by CS were morphologically intact and thus misdiagnosed. Of the three non-patent oviducts, two were occluded because of a hydrosalpings, respectively, while the third was inflamed. In conclusion, CS has been shown a feasible procedure to test for tubal patency in dairy cattle. Further studies with more animals are however recommended to warrant this result.