Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Assessment of coagulation utilizing thromboelastometry in dogs undergoing orthopedic surgery.
- Journal:
- Journal of veterinary emergency and critical care (San Antonio, Tex. : 2001)
- Year:
- 2015
- Authors:
- Bruno, Barbara et al.
- Affiliation:
- Department of Animal Pathology · Italy
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
This study looked at how well blood clots in dogs after they have orthopedic surgery, which includes procedures on bones and joints. Researchers collected blood from 34 adult dogs at three different times: before surgery, 24 hours after, and one week after. They used a special test called thromboelastometry to measure how the blood clotted, and while they found some changes in clot firmness over time, all the results were still within normal ranges for healthy dogs. Importantly, unlike what is sometimes seen in people after similar surgeries, the dogs did not show signs of excessive clotting. Overall, the treatment and monitoring did not lead to any concerning clotting issues in these dogs.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate blood coagulation using thromboelastometry in dogs following orthopedic surgery. DESIGN: Longitudinal observational study. SETTING: University veterinary teaching hospital. ANIMALS: Thirty-four adult client-owned dogs. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Dogs undergoing elective or emergency orthopedic surgery had whole blood collected before (T0), at 24 hours (T1), and 1 week (T2) after surgery. Whole blood from each dog was collected by jugular venipuncture using a 20-Ga needle and minimum venous stasis. The blood was placed into tubes containing 3.8% trisodium citrate (1 part citrate: 9 parts blood) and rested at 37°C. Coagulation was evaluated by means of thromboelastometry using the in-TEM, ex-TEM, and fib-TEM assays. Statistically significant increases (P < 0.05) in maximum clot firmness (MCF) from T0 to T1 in the in-TEM and fib-TEM profiles (both P = 0.0001), from T0 to T2 in the in-TEM, ex-TEM, and fib-TEM profiles (P = 0.012, P = 0.037, and P = 0.0001, respectively), and from T1 to T2 in the fib-TEM profile (P = 0.039) were noted. The α angle increased from T0 to T2 in the in-TEM and ex-TEM profiles (P = 0.019 and P = 0.036, respectively). All results were, however, within the institutional reference ranges. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, unlike the hypercoagulability observed in human orthopedic patients, a hypercoagulable state as measured by thromboelastometry did not develop in dogs following orthopedic surgery.
Find similar cases for your pet
PetCaseFinder finds other peer-reviewed reports of pets with the same symptoms, plus a plain-English summary of what was tried across them.
Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25845837/