Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Amikacin helps break up platelet clumps in blood samples from cats
By Vasilatis, Demitria M et al.·Published in Veterinary clinical pathology·2023·School of Veterinary Medicine, United States·View original on PubMed →
PetCaseFinder translated the abstract of this peer-reviewed paper into plain English so pet owners can read it. We do not publish original research — every detail traces back to the citation above. How we work →
Original publication title: Amikacin disaggregates platelet clumps in EDTA blood samples from cats and dogs when added postcollection.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A study found that adding amikacin, a medication, to blood samples from cats and dogs after collection can help break up clumps of platelets. This is important because clumped platelets can lead to a false diagnosis of low platelet counts, which might result in unnecessary treatments. In the study, cats showed a 134% increase in platelet numbers, while dogs had a 32% increase after amikacin was added. This method could help veterinarians get more accurate blood test results and avoid misdiagnosis in pets.
People also search for: cat low platelet count treatment · dog blood test results · why are my dog's platelets low · amikacin for pets · platelet clumping in cats
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Pseudothrombocytopenia may lead to the erroneous diagnosis of thrombocytopenia, resulting in unnecessary testing and treatment. The addition of exogenous substances to blood samples prior to collection has been shown to mitigate platelet (PLT) clumps in blood samples. Postcollection additives aiming to disaggregate PLT clumps have been largely unexplored. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to determine if the addition of amikacin to blood samples postcollection aids in the disaggregation of PLT clumps in cats and dogs. METHODS: For this prospective study, EDTA-collected blood samples from 28 cats and 17 dogs were obtained from a hospital population at UC Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital. Samples had PLT clumps detected on blood smears and thrombocytopenia per analyzer count. Amikacin was added to samples postcollection, and an additional CBC was performed. Flow cytometry was performed to assess PLT-fibrinogen binding in amikacin-treated aliquots. RESULTS: PLT-clumped samples treated with amikacin significantly increased PLT numbers by 134% and decreased mean platelet volume (MPV) values by 14% (P ≤ 0.0001) in cats, and increased PLT numbers by 32% (P = 0.04) and increased MPV values by 9% (P = 0.02) in dogs. Mean cell volume (MCV) slightly increased (<4%) for both species. No other CBC parameters were substantially affected by the addition of amikacin. Flow cytometry showed decreased PLT-fibrinogen binding in the majority of cats but was not significant (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Adding amikacin to PLT-clumped blood samples postcollection may be a convenient solution for pseudothrombocytopenia in cats and dogs. Future studies are needed to elucidate the mechanism of amikacin and its effectiveness under different storage conditions. This is the first reported use of amikacin postcollection to disaggregate PLT clumps in blood samples from animals.
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 on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36849708/