Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Lipemia can falsely raise automated platelet counts in dogs
By Fasoli, Sabrina et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary diagnostic investigation : official publication of the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians, Inc·2025·Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences (DIMEVET), Italy·View original on PubMed →
PetCaseFinder translated the abstract of this peer-reviewed paper into plain English so pet owners can read it. We do not publish original research — every detail traces back to the citation above. How we work →
Original publication title: Spurious increase in automated optical platelet counts associated with lipemia in dogs.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs with severe fat in their blood (lipemia) had misleadingly high platelet counts when tested with an automated machine. This can happen because the fat interferes with the test results, making it look like there are more platelets than there actually are. In these cases, a manual count was needed to get an accurate reading. Dogs with pancreatitis showed the most significant discrepancies in their platelet counts. To ensure accurate results, veterinarians should visually check the blood samples and use manual methods when lipemia is present.
People also search for: dog high platelet count causes · dog pancreatitis symptoms · lipemia in dogs treatment
Abstract
Spurious platelet counts (PLTCs) associated with lipemia are documented in humans and rarely in dogs. We retrospectively evaluated CBCs of dogs admitted to a veterinary hospital to assess the interference of lipemia with the automated PLTC (A-PLTC) measured by an optical method (Advia 2120i; Siemens). The severity of lipemia was used to group CBC results into 2 groups: severe lipemia (SL) and non-severe lipemia (NSL). Samples with abnormalities other than lipemia, potentially associated with a spurious increase in PLTC, were excluded. In the SL group, a manual PLTC (M-PLTC) was performed, and its difference with A-PLTC (ΔAPLT-MPLT) was calculated. Platelet scatter plots, concentration of triglycerides and cholesterol, diseases, and therapies were evaluated. We selected 9,535 samples, 173 (1.9%) in the SL group and 9,362 in the NSL group. The A-PLTC was significantly increased in the SL group (median: 399 × 10/L; range: 11-1,900 × 10/L) compared to the NSL group (median: 300 × 10/L, range: 1-2,250 × 10/L; < 0.0001). In the SL group, A-PLTC was significantly increased compared to M-PLTC (median: 356 × 10/L, range: 24-1,170 × 10/L, = 0.01; median: ΔAPLT-MPLT +25 × 10/L, range: -190 to 1,700 × 10/L), and the triglyceride concentration (median: 8.71 mmol/L; range: 0.55-152 mmol/L) was significantly associated with ΔAPLT-MPLT ( = 0.05; = 0.004). Dogs with pancreatitis had significantly increased ΔAPLT-MPLT (median: +624 × 10/L; range: 62-1,700 × 10/L) compared to other disease categories ( = 0.01). Severe lipemia may be associated with a spurious A-PLTC increase in dogs; careful evaluation of platelet scatter plots and visual inspection of serum are recommended. Manual estimation is required to correct the A-PLTC when this artifact is detected.
Find similar cases for your pet
PetCaseFinder finds other peer-reviewed reports of pets with the same symptoms, plus a plain-English summary of what was tried across them.
Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40785694/