Endoscopy in Reptile Medicine

Endoscopy has been used for many years in both human and veterinary medicine. Only recently, however, has endoscopy been used to any extent in reptiles or amphibians. 

In herpetological medicine, veterinarian are often faced with a very stoic patient. Reptiles have the ability to appear quite normal externally, while actually being extremely ill internally. As a result, diagnostic testing is often necessary. Blood testing, including cell counts, blood chemistry values, and antibody levels to specific diseases, is often helpful but is equally often unhelpful. It is possible to have a completely normal blood result in a very ill reptile. Similarly, radiographs and ultrasound images are sometimes useful, but only provide an indirect, limited view of organs. Because of these limitations, veterinarians may now favor endoscopy to allow direct visualization and evaluation of reptile and amphibian patients.

There are numerous areas where endoscopy may be useful. Coelioscopy , or internal examination of the coelomic cavity, provides direct view of the liver, lungs, kidneys, heart, spleen, bladder, gastrointestinal tract, pancreas, and gonads. This technique can be used to evaluate these organs for abnormalities including organ enlargement, abscesses, tumors, bleeding, etc. Visualization of the gonads can be used to determine the gender of individuals of sexually monomorphic species or juveniles of dimorphic species. Fieldwork on juvenile desert and Galapagos tortoises, and hellbenders, has demonstrated the utility of endoscopy for gender identification. Endoscopy can also be used in reptiles to look into the trachea and bronchi to evaluate cases of respiratory disease. It can be used to retrieve foreign bodies from the gastrointestinal tract (e.g., coins swallowed by crocodilians). Finally, and perhaps most importantly, endoscopic instruments allow the veterinarian to obtain tissue biopsies of diseased organs. By obtaining biopsies, it may be possible to provide a more precise diagnosis and prognosis than previously available through other diagnostic testing. For example, based on blood work an animal may be said to have a liver problem; but with endoscopy, a more definite diagnosis such as a moderate chronic active fungal hepatitis may be made, thus allowing precise treatment for the precise problem.

The most convenient endoscopes for veterinary include rigid endoscopes 2.7 mm or 4 mm diameter and flexible video gastroscopes. Today more veterinarians use this affordable source of veterinary endoscopes.