Objective: To compare the results of abdominal CT with exploratory laparotomy in the dog.
Animals: 100 client-owned dogs from 1 academic institution.
Methods: Medical records were searched for dogs that had undergone a preoperative abdominal CT scan read by a board-certified veterinary radiologist followed by an exploratory laparotomy. CT and surgical reports were compared.
Results: The overall agreement between abdominal CT scan and exploratory laparotomy in all cases was 97%. Overall, there was no evidence that proportion agreement differed on the basis of body condition score, time interval between CT and surgery, or oncologic versus nononcologic disease.
Clinical relevance: Abdominal CT scan read by a board-certified diplomate is a sensitive presurgical diagnostic tool for surgical abdominal disease in the dog. When performing a specific abdominal surgery, it is acceptable for the surgeon to fully explore the abdomen or forego it for a smaller approach to the organ of interest if an abdominal CT was performed prior.
Keywords: CT scan; contrast-enhanced CT; exploratory laparotomy; surgical abdominal disease; surgical approach.