Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Blood test for inflammation in dogs with inflammatory bowel disease
By Heilmann, Romy M et al.·Published in American journal of veterinary research·2012·Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Serum calprotectin concentrations in dogs with idiopathic inflammatory bowel disease.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of 34 dogs with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) had their blood tested to measure a substance called calprotectin before and after starting treatment. The dogs were treated with either prednisone alone or a combination of prednisone and metronidazole. After three weeks, the calprotectin levels in the dogs with IBD were much higher than in healthy dogs, indicating inflammation, but the levels did not correlate well with other clinical signs of the disease. While calprotectin could help detect inflammation, its effectiveness may be reduced when certain medications are used.
People also search for: dog inflammatory bowel disease treatment · high calprotectin levels in dogs · prednisone for dog IBD
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To measure serum calprotectin concentration in dogs with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) before and after initiation of treatment and evaluate its correlation with a clinical scoring system (canine IBD activity index), serum canine C-reactive protein concentration, and severity of histopathologic changes. ANIMALS: 34 dogs with idiopathic IBD and 139 healthy control dogs. PROCEDURES: From dogs with IBD, blood samples were collected immediately before (baseline) and 3 weeks after initiation of 1 of 2 treatments: prednisone (1 mg/kg, PO, q 12 h; n = 21) or a combination of prednisone and metronidazole (10 mg/kg, PO, q 12 h; 13). Blood samples were collected once from each of the control dogs. For all samples, serum calprotectin concentration was determined via radioimmunoassay. RESULTS: Mean serum calprotectin concentrations for dogs with IBD at baseline (431.1 μg/L) and 3 weeks after initiation of treatment (676.9 μg/L) were significantly higher, compared with that (219.4 μg/L) for control dogs, and were not significantly correlated with the canine IBD activity index, serum C-reactive protein concentration, or severity of histopathologic changes. The use of a serum calprotectin concentration of ≥ 296.0 μg/L as a cutoff had a sensitivity of 82.4% (95% confidence interval, 65.5% to 93.2%) and specificity of 68.4% (95% confidence interval, 59.9% to 76.0%) for distinguishing dogs with idiopathic IBD from healthy dogs. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Serum calprotectin concentration may be a useful biomarker for the detection of inflammation in dogs, but the use of certain drugs (eg, glucocorticoids) appears to limit its clinical usefulness.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23176415/