Acute haemostatic changes in accidentally traumatised dogs

Abstract

Alterations of the haemostatic system were studied in 30 dogs within 24 h following natural injury. No other exclusion criteria were considered. Most dogs had bone fractures, thoracic and/or abdominal trauma. Compared to the controls, the platelet count and activities of all individual coagulation factors, inhibitors of the blood coagulation system (antithrombin, protein C) and plasminogen were significantly decreased ( P<0.01). The only exceptions were α 2-plasmin inhibitor activity, which did not differ from the control group ( P>0.05), and an increased fibrinogen concentration ( P=0.0113). Deficiencies in the coagulation system were reflected by frequent abnormal results of the screening tests. In most of the animals, the concentrations of soluble fibrin and/or fibrin(ogen) degradation products were above the reference values ( P<0.0001). The absence of a decrease in fibrinogen and α 2-plasmin inhibitor reflects their role as acute phase reactants. The results of this study indicate the high frequency of decompensated consumption of haemostatic components in acutely traumatised dogs.