Assessment of the Radiopacity of Medication in Veterinary Medicine

Radiographic and computed tomographic (CT) visibility of human medications has been widely studied; however, equivalent data for veterinary medications remain limited. This study evaluated the radiographic visibility, dissolution characteristics, and CT features of commonly used veterinary and some human medications using a standardized water model. Seventy-five medications were assessed for radiopacity prior to submersion, immediately after submersion, after 30 min, and after 1 h. All medications were visible without water. More than half (54.6%) remained identifiable immediately after submersion, decreasing to 13.3% after 30 min and to 6.6% after 1 h. The gastrointestinal complementary feed, vitamin B12, potassium chloride, and carprofen retained visibility throughout the experiment. Tablet area and height varied widely and demonstrated a weak positive correlation with visibility only after 60 min of submersion. Higher Hounsfield units (HU) values were moderately correlated with visibility at baseline, with the strength of this association decreasing over time as dissolution progressed. This study suggests radiography may be of limited use for the identification of ingested medication and provides images and HU values as a reference for clinicians.