20 research outputs found
Texas Intellectual Property Law Journal
Journal containing articles, notes, and other analyses of intellectual property law in the United States
Clinical relevance of serum electrolytes in dogs and cats with acute heart failure: A retrospective study
Background: Hypochloremia is a strong negative prognostic factor in humans with
congestive heart failure (CHF), but the implications of electrolyte abnormalities in
small animals with acute CHF are unclear.
Objectives: To document electrolyte abnormalities present upon admission of small
animals with acute CHF, and to assess the relationship between electrolyte concentrations
and diuretic dose, duration of hospitalization and survival time.
Animals: Forty-six dogs and 34 cats with first onset of acute CHF.
Methods: Retrospective study. The associations between electrolyte concentrations
and diuretic doses were evaluated with Spearman rank correlation coefficients. Relationship
with duration of hospitalization and survival were assessed by simple linear
regression and Cox proportional hazard regression, respectively.
Results: The most commonly encountered electrolyte anomaly was hypochloremia
observed in 24% (9/46 dogs and 10/34 cats) of cases. In dogs only, a significant negative
correlation was identified between serum chloride concentrations at admission
(median 113 mmol/L [97-125]) and furosemide doses both at discharge (median
5.2 mg/kg/day [1.72-9.57]; r = 0.59; P < .001) and at end-stage heart failure
(median 4.7 mg/kg/day [2.02-7.28]; r = 0.62; P = .005). No significant hazard ratios
were found for duration of hospitalization nor survival time for any of the electrolyte
concentrations.
Conclusions and Clinical Importance: The observed association between serum chloride
concentrations and diuretic doses suggests that hypochloremia could serve as a
marker of disease severity and therapeutic response in dogs with acute CHF