Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Ultrasound and lab tests find hidden issues in healthy golden
By Webb, Jinelle A et al.·Published in The Canadian veterinary journal = La revue veterinaire canadienne·2012·Department of Internal Medicine and Oncology, United Kingdom·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Ultrasonographic and laboratory screening in clinically normal mature golden retriever dogs.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of 53 healthy, mature golden retrievers underwent routine wellness testing, including blood tests, urine tests, and abdominal ultrasounds, as part of their pre-anesthetic screening. Surprisingly, over half of the dogs showed some abnormalities in their lab results, and nearly two-thirds had issues detected on ultrasound. However, since only a few of these dogs had follow-up tests, it's unclear what these findings mean for their health. More research is needed to understand the importance of these tests in older dogs that appear healthy.
People also search for: golden retriever wellness testing · dog blood test results explained · abdominal ultrasound for dogs
Abstract
Wellness and pre-anesthetic screening of blood and urine of geriatric companion animals are routinely recommended. In addition, there are occasional references to the use of imaging in clinically normal geriatric patients. However, the utility of wellness testing is not known, and there is limited information regarding the value of pre-anesthetic testing. Wellness testing, including complete blood cell count, biochemical profile, urinalysis, and abdominal ultrasound, was performed on 53 clinically normal, mature golden retriever dogs. Laboratory analysis revealed abnormalities in 54.7% (29/53) of the dogs. Abdominal ultrasound screening demonstrated abnormalities in 64.2% (34/53) of the dogs. As only a small number of dogs had follow-up diagnostic testing available, the significance of these abnormalities is unknown. Further study involving a larger cohort of animals and analysis of follow-up data is necessary to determine the utility of laboratory and imaging studies in clinically normal geriatric patients.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23204581/