Parametri eritrocitari e reticolocitari in corso di infiammazione sistemica nel cane
Year: 2011
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Erythrocyte and reticulocyte parameters during systemic inflammation in the dog Background. Anemia of inflammation (AI), also known as anemia of chronic disease, is a complex multiorgan response to inflammatory disorders and related cytokine release. Three main mechanisms have been proposed: 1) retention of iron within the mononuclear phagocyte system caused by hepcidin action, 2) inhibition of erythropoiesis by cytokines, and 3) impaired response to erythropoietin. Although this response belongs to the innate immunity and is aimed to reduce the iron bioavailability for infectious agents or neoplastic cells, a detrimental effect for the patient can be observed. In canine medicine the occurrence of AI has been documented decades ago, but little information is available about the prevalence of AI in the clinical setting and on the hematopoietic response to the inflammation magnitude. Aims. To classify the prevalence of anemia in a population of sick dogs, presented to a veterinary hospital, and to study the prevalence of variation in the erythron parameters (i.e., prevalence of anemia and related indexes) according to their degree of inflammation. Methods. In order to assess the prevalence of anemia in sick dogs, complete blood counts obtained at the time of admission to the “Clinica Veterinaria San Marco” in one year period (January 2010 to December 2010) were analyzed. Anemia was defined when hemoglobin (Hgb) was < 13 g/dL. To assess how the presence of anemia was related to increased severity of inflammation four groups of dogs cross-matched for breed (or weight), age and sex, with different concentration of serum C reactive protein (CRP) were created. These groups were formed from the analysis of the clinical records of a five-years period (2005-2010). The first group of sick dogs (Group 0) had CRP within reference range, Group 1 included sick dogs with 1-10 fold increase in CRP; Group 2 included sick dogs with 11-30 fold increase in CRP; and Group 3 included sick dogs with > 31 fold increase in CRP. For all dogs full hematological and biochemical data were available for analysis. Results: Anemia was present in 23.4% of the 3579 sick dogs admitted in the year 2010. From the search of 22,669 clinical records of the five-years period (2005-2010), 3452 dogs were included for analysis to assess how the degree of anemia is related to an increased in severity of inflammation. These dogs were divided in four cross-matched group of 864 dogs. Analysis of these sick dogs showed that higher level of inflammation was statistically associated to lower Hgb content. When present the anemia was most of the time mild, normocytic, normochromic, and non regenerative. Anemia was detected in 9.5% of the dogs in Group 0, in 18.8% of the dogs in Group 1, in 40.5% of the dogs in Group 2 and in 39.4% of the dogs in Group 3. Mean reticulocyte absolute count was showed no significant difference between the four groups of sick dogs with different level of inflammation, but in sick dogs with higher CRP concentration reticulocyte abnormalities in both volume and Hgb content were often present. Conclusions: Severity of inflammation was positively associated to prevalence of anemia in sick dogs; the anemia was mild, normocytic, normochromic, and non regenerative. In severe inflammation reticulocytes were smaller in volume and with reduced Hgb content.
Author: Tommaso Furlanello
Language: Italian
Subfield: Hematology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W87267875