Real time ultrasonography evaluation for early pregnancy diagnosis in sows

Abstract

JECTIVES OF THIS STUDY WERE TO EVALUATE THE USE OF THE REAL TIME ULTRASONOGRAPHY (RTU) ON THE PREGNANCY DIAGNOSIS AT 17 DAYS POST-INSEMINATION (PI) AND TO DETERMINE THE EFFECT OF THE TIME TAKEN FOR THE PREGNANCY DIAGNOSIS ON THE SENSITIVITY, SPECIFICITY AND ACCURACY OF THE DIAGNOSIS. FORTY SOWS WERE USED IN A FIRST TRIAL FOR THE DIAGNOSIS OF PREGNANCY, USING 177 SEC IN AVERAGE. IN A SECOND TRIAL, 20 SOWS WERE USED USING AN AVERAGE TIME FOR DIAGNOSIS OF 28 SEC. IN BOTH TRIALS, THE SOWS WERE DIAGNOSED ALSO AT 24 AND 35 DAYS PI. THE REPRODUCTIVE MANAGEMENT OF THE SOWS WAS THE NORMALLY USED AT THE FARM; THAT IS, THEY WERE ARTIFICIALLY INSEMINATED BY THE SAME TECHNICIAN. TRUE POSITIVE A), FALSE POSITIVES B), FALSE NEGATIVES C) AND TRUE NEGATIVE ANIMALS D), WERE THE BASE TO DETERMINE THE SENSITIVITY, SPECIFICITY AND ACCURACY OF THE DIAGNOSIS OF PREGNANCY AT 17, 24 AND 35 DAYS PI. SENSITIVITY WAS DETERMINED AS A/(A C), SPECIFICITY AS D/(B D) AND ACCURACY AS (A D)/(A B C D). THE SPECIFICITY OF THE DIAGNOSIS AT 17 DAYS PI AND USING A DIAGNOSIS TIME OF 177 SEC, WAS NOT CALCULATED BECAUSE TRUE NEGATIVE SOWS WERE NOT DETECTED; THE SENSITIBITY AND ACCURACY WERE 97.4% AND 92.5%, RESPECTIVELY. THE SENSITIVITY, SPECIFICITY AND ACCURACY OF THE RTU METHOD AT 17 DAYS, PRACTICING THE DIAGNOSIS USING 28 SEC WERE: 81.3%, 25% AND 70%, RESPECTIVELY. AT 24 AND 35 DAYS PI, THE SENSITIVITY, SPECIFICITY AND ACCURACY WERE 100%. THE SENSITIBITY, SPECIFICITY AND ACCURACY OF THE PREGNANCY DIAGNOSIS AT 17 DAYS PI WERE GREATER WHEN 177 SEC, INSTEAD OF 28 SEC, WERE USED (P < 0.05).ULTRASONOGR