The Utility of Acute-Phase Proteins in the Assessment of Treatment Response in Dogs With Bacterial Pneumonia

Viitanen, S.J.; Lappalainen, A.K.; Christensen, M.B.; Sankari, S.; Rajamäki, M.M.

Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid was retrieved in 11 of 19, and TTW was performed in 5 of 19. When BAL or TTW were not available (mainly due to the small size of the patient or the severity of BP), a transthoracic aspirate (TTA) was collected in 2 of 19 and a fresh sputum sample in 1 of 19 dogs. Microbiological analysis was performed in all dogs and the results are presented in Table 1 . A cytological analysis was performed in 18 of 19 dogs (cytology was not performed in 1 TTW sample). Results from the cytology analyses are presented in Table 2 . Because BALF and TTW fluid cytology did not differ significantly in other cell percentages apart from the percentage of epithelial cells (median in BALF, 0.0; IQR, 0.0-0.0 versus median in TTW fluid, 7.1; IQR, 0.2-16.1; P = .026), combined results are presented for the 2 sampling techniques. Cytology in TTA (n = 2) and fresh sputum (n = 1) samples consisted of markedly increased numbers of neutrophils and intracellular bacteria, and an abundant bacterial growth was detected in these samples. The diagnosis of BP was additionally confirmed by postmortem examination in 1 dog with sputum sampling and in 1 dog with TTA sampling.