Radiological detection of nephrocalcinosis in farmed Atlantic salmon Salmo salar L.

Keywords: Atlantic salmon; nephrocalcinosis; radiology EN Atlantic salmon nephrocalcinosis radiology 1883 1888 6 11/11/22 20221201 NES 221201 INTRODUCTION Nephrocalcinosis is a common disorder in nurseries in Norway (Klykken, Reed, et al., 2022) and was reported as one of the main welfare challenges in farmed salmon by The Norwegian Fish Health Report of 2019 (Sommerset et al., 2020). Nephrocalcinosis in Atlantic salmon is mainly identified as amorphous carbonate apatite, a calcium-dominated mineral (Klykken, Reed, et al., 2022), and it has previously been demonstrated that this mineral composition is suitable for x-ray detection (Smith & Lehr, 1966). In conclusion, we are confident that radiology is a suitable diagnostic tool for assessing mineral deposits (amount and distributions) associated with nephrocalcinosis in farmed Atlantic salmon, with minimal risk to the operator when appropriate measures are taken. Regarding the future use of radiology to assess nephrocalcinosis, one should be aware of the limitations of the method, since soft tissue changes not including mineralization cannot be seen on radiographs. [Extracted from the article]