Evaluation of ultrasonography in diagnosis of nasal fracture and its comparison with plain radiography in dogs

Objective- One of the important causes of nasal fracture is a trauma that can be diagnosed in clinical examinations and diagnostic imaging but it should be noted that radiography may show false fractures in the nose. This study evaluated the value of ultrasonography in the diagnosis of nasal fractures and compared it to plain radiography. Design- Retrospective study. Animals- 12 dog patients with suspected nasal fracture. Procedure- These dogs were evaluated by ultrasonography and radiography in comparison with the clinical examination (golden standard) and the results were analyzed by statistical method. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, positive and negative odds ratio, and accuracy with 95% confidence intervals and the accuracy of both tests were calculated. Results- In the diagnosis of nasal fracture by ultrasonography, sensitivity was 96.4%, specificity of 93.3% and accuracy of 96% and in the radiographic method, sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were 81.1%, of 86.7% 82%, respectively. In ultrasonography and radiography, the most sensitivity in diagnosis of nasal bridge fracture was 100% and 92.6% and the most specificity in diagnosis of the outer wall nasal fracture was 100% and 50%, respectively. Conclusion and Clinical Relevance- According to the results of this study, ultrasonography could be used as a non-invasive method with high sensitivity and specificity in the diagnosis of nasal bone fractures in dogs.