Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Factors affecting survival in dogs with protein-losing enteropathy
By Gianella, P et al.·Published in Schweizer Archiv fur Tierheilkunde·2017·Department of Veterinary Sciences, Italy·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Clinicopathologic and prognostic factors in short- and long-term surviving dogs with protein-losing enteropathy.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs diagnosed with protein-losing enteropathy (PLE), a condition that causes severe protein loss through the intestines, were studied to see how long they survived after treatment. The researchers found that dogs who survived less than six months had higher body weight and blood urea nitrogen levels at diagnosis, and they showed worse scores on a clinical activity index one month after starting immunosuppressive therapy. Dogs with higher scores at that time were more likely to have a poor outcome. The study suggests that monitoring these scores can help predict which dogs may not respond well to treatment.
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Abstract
The aim of the present study was to investigate the differences in the characteristics of short- and long-term surviving dogs with protein-losing enteropathy (PLE) and to identify factors that predict its outcome. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 59 client- owned dogs with PLE diagnosed at three different hospitals between January 2009 and November 2013. The dogs were classified as either short-term (= 6 months; STs) or long-term (> 6 months; LTs) survivors. Clinical and clinicopathological variables were investigated between the groups and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed. Nineteen dogs were classified as STs and 40 as LTs. Body weight and blood urea nitrogen concentrations were significantly higher in the STs at diagnosis (P < 0.05). At 1 month after initiation of immunosuppressive therapy (data- driven cut-off, T1), chronic canine enteropathy clinical activity index (CCECAI) scores were higher (P < 0.01) and albumin, serum total protein and total cholesterol concentrations were lower (P < 0.01) in the STs. ROC curve analysis showed that CCECAI > 5 evaluated at T1 was the best predictor of poor outcome. Although the severity of clinical signs and the majority of clinicopathological findings at diagnosis did not influence the outcome, survival time was shorter in the dogs with high CCECAI scores at T1 and which did not respond to therapy.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28248185/