Abstract
BACKGROUND: Although kidney diseases have a high prevalence, initial recognition and diagnosis of renal disease are complicated in avian medicine. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to assess the intraosseous excretory urography (IOEU) in order to introduce a new method for evaluation of kidney's function in broilers as a primary model of birds. METHODS: A total of 10 male broiler chickens at the age of 20 days were included and evaluated with plain and serial post-contrast radiography and computed tomography (CT) scan to check the time and concentration of the contrast media (CM) passage from the kidney. In the next step, after the nephropathy induction with gentamicin, plain and serial post-contrast radiography and CT scan were repeated. After the necropsy, kidney samples were sent for histopathology evaluation, and statistical analysis of data obtained from image analysis was conducted. RESULTS: After nephropathy induction, all of the chickens exhibited increase in kidney size and in histopathological evaluation, all the samples (30 of 30) showed severe tubular necrosis and mild glomerulopathy. In the IOEU, the average time to create the maximum concentration of CM, the average time to decrease the CM concentration from the kidney and the time of the complete clearance of CM indicated a significant incensement after nephropathy compared to the time before it. CONCLUSION: Intraosseous excretory urography (IOEU) is a safe contrast imaging modality and can be useful in the assessment of the urinary system in chickens to check the changes in kidney size and function.