Blood clotting problems in dogs with immune polyarthritis

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To describe the coagulation status of dogs with immune-mediated polyarthritis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Hospital records at a single referral centre were retrospectively reviewed for dogs diagnosed with immune-mediated polyarthritis. Cases were classified as hypercoagulable, normocoagulable, hypocoagulable, or hypercoagulable and hypocoagulable according to the results of viscoelastic testing performed at the time of diagnosis. Other data including signalment, body weight, age at diagnosis, haematological and biochemical laboratory findings, number of joints sampled and synovial fluid analysis, and short-term outcome were recorded. Breed predisposition was defined through comparison to the hospital population and odds ratio calculation. RESULTS: Thirty-eight dogs were included with a median age of diagnosis of 4 years (range 9 months to 10 years). One dog (2.6%) was classified as hypercoagulable, 32 (84.2%) were classified as normocoagulable, four (10.5%) were classified as hypocoagulable and one dog (2.6%) had changes associated with both hypercoagulability and hypocoagulability. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: In contrast to other systemic inflammatory disorders, immune-mediated polyarthritis was not commonly associated with either hypo- or hypercoagulability in this cohort of dogs.