07/29/2026
The answer is that this dog presented to me as a 16-year old neutered male Labrador Retriever
for “Urinating on himself” and I would have with traditional training worked the dog up for
polyuria-polydipsia (PU/PD) thinking he had renal disease or another cause of PU/PD, and
wasn’t being walked enough. If I didn’t use Global FAS T® Point of Care Ultrasound as an
extension of my physical exam, I would have missed his primary problem based on physical
exam, laboratory testing, and radiography.
Physical exam was unremarkable other than he was underweight. The moral of the story,
“Never under-estimate the power of Global FAST® - combining AFAST®, TFAST® and Vet BLUE® -
as part of your physical exam.” On TFAST® echo views, I identified a mass occluding the short
axis left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) from the right TFAST® pericardial site view. This dog
was at risk for sudden death and his clinical signs are most likely because he is borderline
syncopal due to the outflow tract obstruction. The good news was that based on Global FAST®
there were no obvious metastases, however, this mass is in an unforgiving anatomical region.
Want to learn more about Global FAST® Point of Care Ultrasound? This is an easily achievable
skill using our standardized formats. Take our Online or In Person courses. We travel
throughout the USA and internationally have been to many countries teaching our 11-hours
RACE-approved Global FAST® Course on your machines, or you may travel to Austin, Texas or
Nashville, Tennessee to one of our training centers. Check out FASTVet.com
Learn from Gregory Lisciandro, DVM, DABVP, DACVECC. Dr. Lisciandro has been teaching and
updating these formats for the last 14 years. He has worked as both a primary care
veterinarian and ER vet, living and breathing these point-of-care formats while managing his
patients. This is another great case that Dr. Greg Lisciandro managed as a primary care
veterinarian using Global FAS T® Point of Care Ultrasound as an extension of the physical exam.
