Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
How dental surgery under anesthesia affects cortisol tests in dogs
By Hoffrogge, Stefanie et al.·Published in Research in veterinary science·2020·Small Animal Clinic, Germany·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Influence of dental restoration under general anaesthesia on the low-dose dexamethasone suppression test in dogs.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of five healthy dogs underwent a low-dose dexamethasone suppression test (LDDST) before and after having dental work done under general anesthesia. The tests showed that after the dental procedures, some dogs had lower cortisol levels than normal, which could lead to misleading results in future tests. This suggests that minor surgeries might affect cortisol measurements for a while after the procedure. Pet owners should be aware that if their dog has had dental work, it could influence test results related to hormone levels.
People also search for: dog dental surgery effects · low-dose dexamethasone test results in dogs · cortisol levels after dog surgery
Abstract
It was the aim of the study to assess the impact of a minor surgical intervention under general anaesthesia on results of a low-dose dexamethasone suppression test (LDDST) in dogs. Five clinically healthy dogs underwent a LDDST (standard protocol) prior and 1, 4, 7, 14 and 28 days after a dental restoration under general anaesthesia. All LDDSTs revealed negative results. On all test days after intervention some dogs had basal cortisol concentrations below the reference range. Accordingly, plasma cortisol concentrations 4 and 8 h after dexamethasone injection were noticeably lower than before surgery and often even below the lower detection limit of 2.0 ng/ml. The study results may indicate a suppressive effect of a minor surgery under general anaesthesia on cortisol measurements during LDDSTs. It may be speculated that this could possibly lead to false negative test results in the postsurgical period, although transfer of these results to clinical cases is subject to limitations.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31954882/