Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Faster antibiotic treatment for dogs with septic peritonitis
By Abelson, Amanda L et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary emergency and critical care (San Antonio, Tex. : 2001)·2013·Department of Clinical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Positive impact of an emergency department protocol on time to antimicrobial administration in dogs with septic peritonitis.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs with septic peritonitis, a serious abdominal infection, were treated at a veterinary hospital to see if a new protocol for giving antibiotics would help them recover faster. Before the protocol, it took an average of 6 hours to start treatment after diagnosis, but with the new protocol, that time dropped to just 1 hour. While the survival rates were similar between the two groups, the quicker antibiotic administration could improve outcomes for dogs with this condition. Overall, the study suggests that having a specific plan in place can help veterinarians act more quickly in emergencies.
People also search for: dog septic peritonitis treatment · how fast should antibiotics be given to dogs · dog abdominal infection survival rate
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the development of a specific antimicrobial protocol for the treatment of canine intra-abdominal sepsis would improve time to appropriate antimicrobial administration following diagnosis of bacterial peritonitis. DESIGN: Case controlled observational study. SETTING: A tertiary referral small animal teaching hospital. ANIMALS: Twenty dogs undergoing surgery for septic peritonitis prior to the deployment of the abdominal sepsis protocol served as a case control population and 40 dogs identified as having septic peritonitis after deployment of the protocol served as the study population. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Median time from diagnosis of septic peritonitis to antimicrobial administration was 6 hours (range 1-10 h) in the preprotocol group (PRE), and 1 hour (range 1-2 h) in the postprotocol group (POST) (P = 0.001). Five of 20 (25%) culture and sensitivity results yielded negative cultures in the PRE versus 6 of 34 (17.6%) in the POST. Inappropriate empirical antimicrobials were selected 3 of 20 times (15%) in the PRE and 3 of 34 times (8.8%) in the POST. The overall survival to discharge was 60% in the PRE and 70% in the POST (P = 0.425). CONCLUSIONS: The development of an emergency department antimicrobial protocol significantly decreased time to antimicrobial administration following identification of septic peritonitis in dogs.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24016280/