Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
How blood tests help find hidden gut bleeding in dogs
By Stiller, Jenny et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary internal medicine·2021·Department of Clinical Studies, Canada·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Diagnostic evaluation of urea nitrogen/creatinine ratio in dogs with gastrointestinal bleeding.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs with gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB) was studied to see if measuring urea nitrogen and creatinine levels could help identify the type of bleeding. The results showed that while dogs with obvious GIB had higher urea nitrogen/creatinine ratios compared to healthy dogs, this test wasn't effective in detecting hidden bleeding or distinguishing between upper and lower GIB. Therefore, if a dog shows no clear signs of bleeding and has normal blood levels, there's no need for immediate treatment with gastrointestinal protectants.
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Abstract
BACKGROUND: Urea nitrogen/creatinine ratio (UCR) is a marker for upper gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB) in people. OBJECTIVES: To assess the usefulness of UCR to predict occult GIB and distinguish upper from lower GIB in dogs. ANIMALS: Eighty-nine dogs with GIB and 65 clinically healthy dogs. Dogs were grouped according to 65 overt GIB and 24 occult GIB, and based on lesion localization (37 upper, 13 lower, and 8 both). METHODS: Seventy-four dogs were included retrospectively and 15 dogs prospectively. Serum urea nitrogen and creatinine concentrations, UCR, hemoglobin concentration, hematocrit, mean corpuscular volume, and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration were compared between groups. Logistic regression models were fitted to assess if variables could distinguish occult GIB from being healthy and upper from lower GIB. RESULTS: The UCR was significantly higher in dogs with overt GIB compared to control dogs (P = .02) and dogs with occult GIB (P = .05). The UCR was not significantly associated with occult GIB vs being healthy, or upper vs lower GIB (P > .05 each). Dogs with higher hemoglobin concentration and hematocrit had significantly lower odds of having occult GIB than being healthy (P < .0001 each). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: The UCR does not seem to be a clinically useful marker of occult GIB and appears to have poor discriminatory ability between upper and lower GIB. An increased UCR in a dog without signs of overt GIB, especially if its hematocrit is within the middle or upper reference interval, does not appear to warrant prompt prescription of gastrointestinal protectants.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33728701/