Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Rapid urine test for early kidney injury in dogs and its accuracy
By Tagliasacchi, Filippo et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary internal medicine·2026·Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences-DIVAS, Italy·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Urinary neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin in dogs: accuracy of a novel rapid test and biomarker behavior across clinical settings.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A study looked at a new quick test for detecting acute kidney injury (AKI) in dogs using a urine marker called uNGAL. This test was found to be very sensitive, meaning it correctly identified most dogs with AKI, while also being able to distinguish it from other urinary issues. The new point-of-care test showed good agreement with the traditional lab test, making it a useful tool for vets to quickly assess dogs at risk for kidney problems. This could help in diagnosing and treating kidney issues sooner, potentially improving outcomes for affected dogs.
People also search for: dog kidney injury symptoms · how to test for kidney disease in dogs · acute kidney injury treatment in dogs
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Urinary neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (uNGAL) has emerged as an early marker of acute kidney injury (AKI) in dogs, but its measurement by ELISA is laborious in clinical practice. HYPOTHESIS/OBJECTIVES: Assess the performance of a novel point-of-care (POC) uNGAL assay for early detection of AKI in dogs and evaluate the clinical utility of uNGAL in differentiating AKI from other urinary conditions in dogs. ANIMALS: Urine supernatants from 200 client-owned dogs were collected and grouped as follows: healthy, chronic kidney disease (CKD), AKI (including AKI on CKD), urinary tract infections, urolithiasis, and extrarenal inflammatory diseases. Dogs then were classified by the presence (n = 39) or absence (n = 161) of AKI for calculation of diagnostic performance. METHODS: Urinary NGAL was measured using the Dog NGAL ELISA Kit (Bioporto) as the existing test and the "PRIMA Veterinary-KI screening test" (PRIMA Lab) as an index test. RESULTS: At the optimized cut-off of 20 ng/mL for the POC device, a sensitivity of 97.3% (95%CI, 85.8-99.9) and a specificity of 66.3% (95%CI, 58.4-73.5) for diagnosing AKI were found. For the ELISA, a sensitivity of 97.3% (95%CI, 85.8-99.9) and a specificity of 80.4% (95%CI, 73.4-86.2) were found. Cohen's kappa coefficient (κ = 0.82) indicated an excellent agreement between methods. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: With both methods, uNGAL showed moderate specificity and excellent sensitivity for the diagnosis of AKI. The POC device represents a clinically relevant diagnostic tool for screening AKI in patients at risk, given excellent agreement with the existing test.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41742585/