Use of barium.

Re: Use of barium.

Hannah Ridgwell — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 19:47:13 GMT

Thanks everyone for all your information. Very helpful, hadn't even heard of BIPS so I've learnt something new.Feel more able to cope now if my mountain dog starts vomiting again.

Re: Use of barium.

Ana Xavier — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 14:02:52 GMT

If it is a sock I would advise checking what type of material the sock is made from - cotton will be partially digested by the gastric juices anyhow. We've seen on confirmed cases of sock swallowing that if you feed them a high in fibre diet they will go through easily without any probs. If poliester then it's a different story... Anyhow, barium is great for these sort of cases as the material absorbs the barium and you can see it clearly. Another tip you dipping the barium in marshmallows, that's what we did in the Gastroenterology department. All the contours are then clearer. Hope this helps. Cheers

Re: Use of barium.

Hannah Wynne Richards — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 09:53:56 GMT

I hadn't thought of next day rads. Also recently learned on one of these fora that it's not a good idea to give inter-pleural antibiotics in cases of pyothorax

Wynne

Re: Use of barium.

Rob Loxley — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 23:02:32 GMT

[quote user="Hannah Ridgwell"]How much would I need to stomach tube into the stomach [/quote]

I tend to mix up a nice barium meal from barium powder and some mushy dog food - luckily it's often a labrador so no problem getting it down... (likewise activated charcoal powder in food, yum!)

Re: Use of barium.

Bob Russell — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 21:49:15 GMT

[quote user="bob lehner"]

[quote user="Hannah Wynne Richards"]

Not much use for a sock, as the barium would disguise it

[/quote]

Totally disagree - about the only consistently practical use of barium in my opinion these days is in picking up soft or absorbent and non-radio-opaque fbs like cloth/sponge/plastic etc. The barium will soak into it and some may pass thro' - take another x-ray the following day and barium will be retained in and around the offending item. Amount you give doesn't matter too much - 20 -100 mls of 100% w/v liquid according to size.

Personally I don't find bips very helpful - they seem very inconsistent in their passage time through the gi tract.

[/quote]

Totally agree - wait for the bulk of the Ba to go through and socks etc retain it well - our head nurses dog regularly eats socks!!!

Re: Use of barium.

Sian33 — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 21:10:35 GMT

Barium was very useful last week in outlining a peach stone (very clearly!) in a puppy's stomach that was causing an intermittent obstruction. I'm sure BIPs would have gone on their merry way and we would have missed it

Re: Use of barium.

bob lehner — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 20:54:46 GMT

[quote user="Hannah Wynne Richards"]

Not much use for a sock, as the barium would disguise it

[/quote]

Personally I don't find bips very helpful - they seem very inconsistent in their passage time through the gi tract.

Re: Use of barium.

Martin Atkinson — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 17:50:40 GMT

Tend to use BIPS these days.

Re: Use of barium.

Hannah Wynne Richards — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 17:24:15 GMT

Not much use for a sock, as the barium would disguise it

Wynne

Re: Use of barium.

Kate Richardson — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 16:53:38 GMT

We do use it on occasion although tend to use it more for assessing for intestinal obstruction, but it can be useful for gastric FBs, however it doesn't always pick them up. I tend to go on a combo of history and clinical signs, but we do use ultrasound here a lot too and if strongly suspicious, am afraid we still have to resort to an ex lap. However a bit like 'peritoneal aeration'/letting the evil spirits out, often find a good dose of barium sometimes 'fixes' them! As a rule, generally go with 1ml/kg but don't know if this is 'standard' or just our dose!