Laboratory and ultrasonographic monitoring of dogs with acute pancreatitis

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the changes of some biochemical and ultrasonographic (US) parameters in a group of dogs with naturally occurring acute pancreatitis (AP) during the therapeutic follow-up.Dogs with clinical signs and abdominal US findings suggestive of AP associated with increased serum canine pancreatic lipase (cPL) activity were included into the study. In these dogs, the serum concentration of C-reactive protein (CRP), amylase and lipase were also measured. Severity indexes were established to semi-quantitatively evaluate the severity of clinical and US findings. In particular, a clinical score (0-3) for each of the following clinical parameters was given: presence and frequency of vomiting, appetite and general condition; an US score (0=normal, 1=abnormal) was assigned per each of the following parameters: pancreas (echogenicity, volume, echotexture and echogenicity of the mesentery), gastrointestinal tract, biliary ducts, lymph nodes and abdominal effusion (total score 0-14). All dogs were treated with fluid therapy, ampicillin-sulbactam, 15mg/kg IV q8h, buprenorphine, 0.01mg/kg q8h, and, if needed, maropitant 1mg/kg SC q24h. The two severity scores, serum CRP, amylase and lipase concentrations were measured at diagnosis (T0) and after 1 (T1), 3 (T3), and 5 (T5) days, and at discharge (Td) and 1 week after discharge (Td1).Nine client-owned dogs were included with a median (range) age of 10 years (8-14 years). Median (range) clinical and US scores were 8 (6-9) and 8.5 (3-13), respectively, at T0, and 0 (0-1) and 1 (0-3), respectively, at Td1. A significant, positive correlation was found between the clinical and US score (p