Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Can blood cell ratios help diagnose and monitor dog hypercortisolism
By Yun, Sumin et al.·Published in Topics in companion animal medicine·2024·College of Veterinary Medicine, South Korea·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Can neutrophil-to-lymphocyte and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratios be used as markers for hypercortisolism in dogs?
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A study looked at 67 dogs with hypercortisolism (a condition that causes high cortisol levels) to see if certain blood ratios could help diagnose and monitor the disease. The researchers found that dogs with hypercortisolism had higher neutrophil-to-lymphocyte (NLR) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratios (PLR) compared to healthy dogs and those with other illnesses. After treatment with trilostane, a common medication for hypercortisolism, the NLR decreased significantly in dogs that responded well to the treatment. This suggests that while these blood ratios can help in diagnosing hypercortisolism, they may also be useful for tracking how well the treatment is working.
People also search for: dog hypercortisolism symptoms · trilostane treatment for dogs · high cortisol levels in dogs
Abstract
Changes in neutrophil-to-lymphocite ratio (NLR) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) have been identified in dogs with hypercortisolism (HC), but, no studies have investigated the changes in these inflammatory biomarkers as cost-effective and available parameters for the diagnosis and management of HC. This study was performed to evaluate whether NLR and PLR could be used as biomarkers for the diagnosis and treatment response in dogs with HC. This retrospective study included 67 dogs with HC, 58 dogs with non-adrenal illness (NAI), and 39 healthy dogs. NLR and PLR were compared among the three groups. Cut-off values of NLR and PLR for HC screening and percent change in biomarkers for assessing treatment response were evaluated. In addition, the NLR and PLR were compared before and after trilostane treatment. NLR and PLR were significantly higher in the HC group than in the NAI and healthy groups. The NLR cut-off value of 4.227 had a sensitivity of 67.16% and specificity of 65.52%, and the PLR cut-off value of 285.0 had a sensitivity of 56.72% and specificity of 70.69% for differentiating between dogs with HC and those with NAI, respectively. Furthermore, a significant decline in NLR was observed after treatment in the well-controlled HC group. The cutoff value of percent change in NLR to identify well-controlled HC was -7.570%; sensitivity and specificity were 100% and 63.64%, respectively. Therefore, NLR and PLR might be used cautiously as supportive biomarkers for HC diagnosis, and NLR could be a potential monitoring tool in assessing the treatment response of HC in dogs.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38964539/