Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Skin thickness changes in small dogs with hyperadrenocorticism seen
By Heo, Seonghun et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary science·2018·Institute of Animal Medicine, South Korea·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Ultrasonographic evaluation of skin thickness in small breed dogs with hyperadrenocorticism.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A small breed dog with hyperadrenocorticism (HAC), a condition that can cause symptoms like thinning skin, was evaluated using ultrasound to measure skin thickness. The study found that dogs with HAC had significantly thinner skin compared to normal dogs. Interestingly, dogs treated with trilostane, a common medication for HAC, showed an increase in skin thickness after treatment. This suggests that measuring skin thickness can help veterinarians distinguish between healthy dogs and those with HAC, but treatments like prednisolone or trilostane can also affect skin thickness.
People also search for: dog skin problems · hyperadrenocorticism treatment for dogs · small breed dog skin thickness · trilostane for dog HAC
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to propose a standard for differentiation between normal dogs and patients with hyperadrenocorticism (HAC) by measuring skin thickness via ultrasonography in small breed dogs. Significant changes in skin thickness of patients treated with prednisolone (PDS) or patients with HAC treated with trilostane were evaluated. Skin thickness was retrospectively measured on three abdominal digital images obtained from small breed dogs weighing ＜ 15 kg that underwent abdominal ultrasonography. Mean skin thickness of normal dogs was 1.03 ± 0.25 mm (mean ± SD). Both the HAC and PDS groups showed significantly thinner skin than that in the normal group. Seven of the 10 HAC patients treated with trilostane had increased skin thickness. The area under the curve value of 0.807 was based on the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve for differentiating normal dogs from HAC patients. Sensitivity was 76% and specificity was 73% when skin thickness was less than the 0.83 mm cutoff value. In conclusion, measurement of skin thickness in small breed dogs by using ultrasonography is likely to provide clinical information useful in differentiating HAC patients from normal dogs. However, exposure to PDS, trilostane, and other conditions may have a significant effect on skin thickness.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29929358/