Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Treatments and outcomes for dogs with aortic blood clots
By Ruehl, Mackenzie et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary internal medicine·2020·MedVet Hilliard, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Outcome and treatments of dogs with aortic thrombosis: 100 cases (1997-2014).
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of 100 dogs diagnosed with aortic thrombosis (ATh), a serious condition that can cause sudden loss of mobility, were studied to understand their outcomes and treatments. Many of these dogs were nonambulatory when they arrived at the vet, and those that could not walk had a worse chance of recovery. Treatments included medications to dissolve blood clots and some dogs underwent procedures to remove them. While 57 dogs survived their hospital stay, only 16 were still alive six months later, indicating that ATh has a poor prognosis, especially for those unable to walk at the time of diagnosis.
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Abstract
BACKGROUND: Aortic thrombosis (ATh) is an uncommon condition in dogs, with limited understanding of risks factors, outcomes, and treatments. OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: To describe potential risk factors, outcome, and treatments in dogs with ATh. ANIMALS: Client-owned dogs with a diagnosis of ATh based on ultrasonographic or gross necropsy examination. METHOD: Multicentric retrospective study from 2 academic institutions. RESULTS: One hundred dogs were identified. Anti-thrombin diagnosis, 35/100 dogs were nonambulatory. The dogs were classified as acute (n = 27), chronic (n = 72), or unknown (n = 1). Fifty-four dogs had at least one comorbidity thought to predispose to ATh, and 23 others had multiple comorbidities. The remaining 23 dogs with no obvious comorbidities were classified as cryptogenic. Concurrent illnesses potentially related to the development of ATh included protein-losing nephropathy (PLN) (n = 32), neoplasia (n = 22), exogenous corticosteroid administration (n = 16), endocrine disease (n = 13), and infection (n = 9). Dogs with PLN had lower antithrombin activity than those without PLN (64% and 82%, respectively) (P = .04). Sixty-five dogs were hospitalized with 41 subsequently discharged. Sixteen were treated as outpatient and 19 euthanized at admission. In-hospital treatments varied, but included thrombolytics (n = 12), alone or in combination with thrombectomy (n = 9). Fifty-seven dogs survived to discharge. Sixteen were alive at 180 days. Using regression analysis, ambulation status at the time of presentation was significantly correlated with survival-to-discharge (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS/CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: Dogs with ATh have a poor prognosis, with nonambulatory dogs at the time of presentation having worse outcome. Although the presence of comorbid conditions associated with hypercoagulability is common, an underlying cause for ATh was not always identified.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33463770/