Evaluation of the relationship between supramammary lymph node echotexture and mastitis in cows

Echotexture analyzes are performed by processing ultrasonography (USG) images in digital environment. The present thesis was conducted to investigate the relationship between the echotexture analysis of supramammary lymph nodes and mastitis. In the thesis study, 252 cows were used as material. In the study, California Mastitis Test (CMT) and milk electrical resistance (SED) measurements were made and USG images of the supramammar lymph node were taken. With the clinical examination and scoring, the animals were divided into three groups as CMT (-) (n=84), CMT (+) (n=84) and clinical mastitis (n=84). Somatic Cell Count (SHS), SED and milk amyloid A (MAA) measurements were made from the samples with the commercial ELISA kit. For echotexture analysis, lymph node images taken by USG were transferred to electronic media and converted to Bitmap (BMP) image format. Relevant areas (ROI) of lymph node images in BMP format were determined with Image J program and evaluated by obtaining mean gray value (MGL), contrast (CON), homogeneity (HOM), energy (ASM), entropy and correlation parameters. Result of the analysis, SHS and MAA levels were found to be the lowest in the CMT (-) group, while they were found to be higher in the clinical mastitis group compared to the other two groups, and statistically significant relationships were found (p<0.001). It was observed that the clinical mastitis group was statistically lower than the CMT (+) and CMT (-) groups in milk electrical resistance (p<0.001). When the relationship between other diagnostic methods and echotexture parameters was evaluated, it was determined that CON had negative differences with SHS and SED, positive differences with MAA, negative differences with ASM, SHS and SED, and positive differences with MAA. While there was no difference between HOM and MAA, there were negative differences with SHS and positive differences with SED. While there was no correlation between SHS and MAA, a positive difference was found with SED. It was determined that mean gray value and entropy did not have a significant relationship with MAA, but a positive relationship with SHS and a negative relationship with SED (p<0.05). As a result, it was concluded that in echotexture analyzes of udder and supramammary lymph nodes by ultrasonography, value ranges should be determined with more sample numbers and more comprehensive studies on the subject should be done by creating a source for future studies.