The GFAST approach should be part of the work-up for all cats with urinary tract signs and those with urinary obstruction, but using it as a first-line imaging test may also detect incidental and unexpected findings within the urinary tract. TFAST and Vet BLUE methods should also be employed when staging feline patients and for overall volume status. A subsequent paper will focus on using the approach to assess patients with kidney disease. The AFAST technique is used for general assessment of the abdomen, including a free-fluid scoring system, and is a target-organ approach involving the urinary bladder. This paper offers an introduction to first-line use of GFAST to assess feline lower urinary tract disease. The idea is that the GFAST ultrasound approach serves as an extension of the physical exam, as it is designed as a standardized, achievable format for the non-specialist radiologist veterinarian, and is intended to be the clinician’s first-line choice of imaging modality, i.e., it is a quick assessment test. Without following a standardized global protocol, the clinician will miss pathology and fail to integrate other important ultrasound findings 1 2 3 4 5. The recording of findings on goal-directed templates gives value to the objective examination.įirstly, however, a word of caution, the veterinary point-of-care ultrasound (V-POCUS) movement lends itself to "satisfaction of search error" through selective imaging (picking and choosing).
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This article focuses on assessment of the feline urinary bladder and considers potential findings using the AFAST Cysto-Colic View (CC), including identification of free fluid and obvious, easily detected bladder abnormalities.
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The GFAST technique uses defined acoustic windows ( i.e., views), which include target-organ interrogation and specific, standardized probe maneuvers.
It should be emphasized that the AFAST, TFAST and Vet BLUE examinations are not the same as "flashing" the abdomen, thorax, and lungs.
The idea behind GFAST was to develop a method for standardized ultrasound examination specifically tailored for veterinary patients that would answer clinical questions that might differ from what complete abdominal ultrasound and comprehensive echocardiography were trying to achieve. The technique includes protocols for abdominal scanning (AFAST), thoracic scanning (TFAST), and lung assessment (Vet BLUE, or veterinary Bedside Lung Ultrasound Examination). The well-defined point-of-care method for rapid ultrasound scanning of small animals, known as Global FAST or GFAST (Focused Assessment with Sonography in Trauma/Triage) is now widely used in the veterinary community.
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