B-Mode and Doppler Sonography of the Mammary Glands in Dairy Goats for Mastitis Diagnosis VJC Santos 1 , K Simpl  ıcio 2 , D Sanchez 2 , L Coutinho 1 , P Teixeira 3 , F Barros 1 , V Almeida 1 , L Rodrigues 4 , P Bartlewski 5 , M Oliveira 1 , M Feliciano 1 and W Vicente 1 1 Animal Reproduction, College of Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences, Sao Paulo State University, Jaboticabal, Brazil; 2 Veterinary Preventive Medicine, College of Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences, Sao Paulo State University, Jaboticabal, Brazil; 3 Veterinary Medicine, Midwest State University, Guarapuava, Brazil; 4 Animal Reproduction, Amazon Federal Rural University, Bel em, Brazil; 5 Biomedical Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada Contents This study aimed to evaluate the sonographic characteristics of the udder and teats and to determine the Doppler indexes of mammary artery in healthy and undergoing subclinical and clinical mastitis goats. Thirty animals among Saanen and Alpine Brown goats were arranged in three groups, healthy goats (HG), goats with subclinical mastitis (SMG) and goats with clinical mastitis (CMG). Using the B-mode, the sono- graphic characteristics (echotexture and echogenicity) and biometry (diameter and area of the udder cistern, diameter and area of the teat cistern and thickness of the teat wall) were evaluated. Using Doppler ultrasonography, the vascular indexes of the mammary artery were obtained. It was observed hyperechogenicity with solid component in the gland cistern when comparing animals with clinical mastitis and healthy mammary tissue. Regarding the echotexture of the breast tissue, there was heterogeneity in the mammary parenchyma on the three groups, for the milk, it was observed homogeneity for animals on HG and SMG and heterogeneity for animals on CMG. Grey-scale quantitative assessment revealed increase in echogenicity (mean value) for all the structures when comparing the three groups. Biometry did not reveal statistical difference between groups, for none of the evaluated struc- tures. Doppler examination of the mammary artery showed the decrease of end diastolic velocity and raise of pulsatility index between groups. The association of B-mode and Doppler ultrasonography is useful for the evaluation of the udder of dairy goats with mastitis. It is a sensitive and specific method for the study of this disease. Doppler mode was unable to establish reliable criteria for diagnosis of subclinical mastitis. Moreover, the quantification of echogenicity is a useful technique for the evaluation of the milk in animals with mastitis; therefore, it is suggested that it can be used as complementary technique for the diagnosis of mastitis in goats. Introduction Conventional ultrasonographic imaging is a non-inva- sive diagnostic method that allows for the repeated and safe evaluation of various regions of the internal organs (Sim~ oes 2008). The application of this technique to examine the mammary gland has been evaluated in several animal species of veterinary interest (Kirk and Glenn 1996; Fl € ock and Winter 2006; Melo et al. 2012). The Doppler technique provides a means to assess the vascular indices of blood flow that can aid in the differential diagnosis of the primary mammary gland disorders (Feliciano et al. 2012). In goats, however, the Doppler sonography has only been employed to assess blood flow velocity in the milk vein (Nielsen et al. 1990). Considering the potential applicability of both the grey-scale and Doppler imaging modalities for the diagnosis of mammary gland disorders, the sole objec- tive of this study was to determine the B-mode and Doppler sonographic characteristics of the mammary gland in healthy, dairy goats as well as in dairy goats undergoing mastitis in both the subclinical and clinical forms and assess if they are related to the disease, specially the subclinical form for being of difficult diagnosis. Materials and Methods The present study was carried out in the College of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences of the S~ ao Paulo State University facilities, located in the city of Jaboti- cabal (latitude 21°15 0 17″S and longitude 48°19 0 20″W, 605 m above the sea level), S~ ao Paulo State, Brazil. Climate of this region is classified as mesothermal subtropical, with mean annual temperature of 22°C. Thirty goats, Saanen (26) and Alpine Brown (4), aged between 2 and 4 years, multiparous, fed with commer- cial balanced ration, coast cross hay, mineral salt and water ad libitum were examined 7 days post-partum and were arranged in three groups of 10 animals each: health goats (HG), goats undergoing subclinical mastitis (SMG) and goats with clinical mastitis (CMG). The animals were manually milked twice a day and the samples were obtained before the first milking; there- fore, the udders were full, also the goats had no contact with their offspring. Careful clinical examinations were performed accord- ing to Pugh (2005). Strip cup test and California Mastitis Test (CMT) were used to evaluate the milk, also, its characteristics were evaluated according to criteria collated by Quadros (2007). The ultrasonograms were obtained with the MyLabTM30 VET (Esaote S.p.A., Genova, Lig uria, Italy) with a microconvex multifrequency (5–7.5 MHz) probe, frequency used was 6.6 MHz. To perform B-mode examination, the probe Reprod Dom Anim doi: 10.1111/rda.12479 ISSN 0936–6768 © 2015 Blackwell Verlag GmbH