2015 ACVIM Forum Research Abstract Program

MEASUREMENT OF PLASMA FIBRINOGEN IN DOGS WITH HEPATOBILIARY DISEASE. Sara Wennogle 1 , Allison Bradley 1 , Christine Olver 1 , David Twedt 1 . 1 Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA Hypofibrinogenemia has been described in humans with advanced liver disease and dogs with chronic hepatitis. Addition-ally, hypofibriongenemia has recently been correlated with perioperative bleeding during liver transplantation in humans. Plasma fibrinogen concentrations have not been compared among different categories of liver disease in dogs. The goal of this study was to retrospectively evaluate fibrinogen concentrations in dogs with various histologic types of liver disease. Fibrinogen was measured in stored citrated plasma from 41 dogs that underwent liver biopsy at Colorado State University from June 2013-November 2014. The fibrinogen assay was performed on the Destiny AMAX Plus TM analyzer and results reported in mg/dL. The reported normal reference range for this assay is 117 to 392 mg/dl. Based on the histological diagnosis dogs were grouped into one of the following categories: non-specific reactive hepatopathy/NSR (n = 13); chronic hepatitis/CH (n = 9); hydropic/vacuolar hepatopathy (n = 8); cholangiohepatitis (n = 4); neoplasia (n = 4); or other (n = 3). Groups were compared via one-way ANOVA with Tukey adjusted pairwise comparisons and significance was defined as P < 0.05. Plasma fibrinogen summary data are shown in the figure below. Dogs with histologically confirmed CH had significantly lower mean fibrinogen concentrations than other histological categories: NSR (P = 0.004), hydropic/vacuolar (P < 0.0001), cholangiohepatitis (P = 0.0001), neoplasia (P = 0.0009) or other (P = 0.0328). Mean fibrinogen levels were not different among other histological types of liver disease. Hypofibrinogenemia is more likely to occur in dogs with CH than other types of hepatobiliary disease. Plasma fibrinogen concentrations may be a useful indirect indicator of hepatic function and hypofibrinogenemia may also predispose a patient to perioperative bleeding. Further studies are needed to better characterize hypofibrinogenemia in dogs with hepatobiliary disease. The prevalence of cobalamin deficiency in cats with hepatic lipidosis (FHL) is unknown. Cobalamin serves as a cofactor in metabolic reactions responsible for the generation of carnitine, which promotes the oxidation of fatty acids, and the antioxidant glutathione. Cobalamin deficiency could therefore play a role in the pathogenesis of FHL. The aims of this study were to determine the prevalence of hypocobalaminemia in cats with FHL and to compare serum methylmalonic acid (MMA) and homocysteine (HCY) concentrations between healthy cats and cats with FHL.