Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Comparing gel and conventional tests for immune anemia in dogs
By Piek, Christine J et al.·Published in Acta veterinaria Scandinavica·2012·Department of Clinical Sciences of Companion Animals, Netherlands·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Good agreement of conventional and gel-based direct agglutination test in immune-mediated haemolytic anaemia.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs and cats had their blood tested to see if they had immune-mediated hemolytic anemia (IMHA), a condition where the body attacks its own red blood cells. Researchers compared two testing methods: a traditional direct agglutination test (DAT) and a newer gel-based test. The gel test showed good agreement with the DAT for diagnosing idiopathic IMHA (the cause is unknown) but was less likely to be positive in cases of secondary IMHA (where another condition causes the anemia). This suggests that the gel test could be a useful first step in screening for this condition in dogs.
People also search for: dog anemia symptoms · cat blood test results · immune-mediated hemolytic anemia treatment · dog blood test for IMHA · screening tests for dog anemia
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to compare a gel-based test with the traditional direct agglutination test (DAT) for the diagnosis of immune-mediated haemolytic anaemia (IMHA). METHODS: Canine (n = 247) and feline (n = 74) blood samples were submitted for DAT testing to two laboratories. A subset of canine samples was categorized as having idiopathic IMHA, secondary IMHA, or no IMHA. RESULTS: The kappa values for agreement between the tests were in one laboratory 0.86 for canine and 0.58 for feline samples, and in the other 0.48 for canine samples. The lower agreement in the second laboratory was caused by a high number of positive canine DATs for which the gel test was negative. This group included significantly more dogs with secondary IMHA. CONCLUSIONS: The gel test might be used as a screening test for idiopathic IMHA and is less often positive in secondary IMHA than the DAT.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22316049/