Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Blood cleaning treatments for dogs and cats after poisoning cases
By Groover, Jennifer et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary emergency and critical care (San Antonio, Tex. : 2001)·2022·Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Extracorporeal blood purification in acutely intoxicated veterinary patients: A multicenter retrospective study (2011-2018): 54 cases.
Plain-English summary
Fifty-one dogs and three cats were treated for serious poisoning after ingesting toxic substances like nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and ethylene glycol. They received extracorporeal blood purification (EBP) treatments, which include methods like hemodialysis and therapeutic plasma exchange, to help remove the toxins from their systems. Remarkably, about 83% of these pets survived, especially those who showed no signs of toxicity before treatment. While some animals experienced mild complications from the treatment, none of the deaths were due to the EBP itself. This suggests that starting EBP early can be a lifesaving option for pets with severe poisonings.
People also search for: dog poisoning treatment · cat ethylene glycol symptoms · extracorporeal blood purification for pets
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical outcome and complications associated with extracorporeal blood purification (EBP) using either hemodialysis (HD), hemodialysis and hemoperfusion (HD + HP), or therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) for the management of acute toxin ingestion in small animals. DESIGN: Retrospective, multicenter study from January 2011 to July 2018. SETTING: One university teaching hospital and one private specialty hospital. ANIMALS: Fifty-one dogs and 3 cats with a history of acute toxin exposure that could lead to severe morbidity and mortality, managed with different EBP techniques. MAIN RESULTS: Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (38/54, 52%), baclofen (8/54, 15%), and ethylene glycol (7/54, 13%) were the most common toxicities treated with EBP. Membrane-based TPE was used most commonly (22/54, 40.7%), followed by HD (17/54, 31.5%) and then HD + HP (15/54, 27.8%). There was an 83.3% (45/54) overall survival, with 88.9% (8/9) of nonsurvivors having clinical signs prior to therapy. One third (18/54) of the patients never developed clinical signs of toxicity. Treatment complications occurred in 44.4% (24/54) of the animals, although only 18.5% (10/54) of these complications, such as mild hypotension, thrombocytopenia secondary to the HP cartridge, facial swelling after plasma transfusion for TPE, bleeding from catheter size secondary to heparinization, or clotting of the system, could be attributed to the EBP treatment. None of the nonsurvivors died because of EBP complications. CONCLUSIONS: Early initiation of EBP therapy might be considered as an alternative route of decontamination in severe acute toxicities with high potential for significant morbidity and mortality. The survival rate in small animals undergoing EBP is high despite exposure to potential lethal doses of toxins, and survival appears to be more likely if clinical signs of toxicity are not present at the time of EBP. Continued research is warranted with randomized controlled clinical trials to further evaluate the clinical efficacy and benefit of EBP.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34897946/