Abstract
The objective of this study was to describe the changes in plasma glucose concentration in 20 severely injured dogs suffering from dog bite wounds over a period of 72 hours from the initiation of trauma. Historical, signalment, clinical and haematological factors were investigated for their possible effect on plasma glucose concentration. Haematology was repeated every 24 hours and plasma glucose concentrations were measured at 8-hourly intervals post-trauma. On admission, 1 dog was hypoglycaemic, 8 were normoglycaemic and 11 were hyperglycaemic. No dogs showed hypoglycaemia at any other stage during the study period. The median blood glucose concentrations at each of the 10 collection points, excluding the 56-hour and 64-hour collection points, were in the hyperglycaemic range (5.8- 6.2 mmol/l). Puppies and thin dogs had significantly higher median plasma glucose concentrations than adult and fat dogs respectively (P < 0.05 for both). Fifteen dogs survived the 72-hour study period. Overall 13 dogs (81.3 %) made a full recovery after treatment. Three of 4 dogs that presented in a collapsed state died, whereas all dogs admitted as merely depressed or alert survived (P = 0.004). The high incidence of hyperglycaemia can possibly be explained by the "diabetes of injury" phenomenon. However, hyperglycaemia in this group of dogs was marginal and potential benefits of insulin therapy are unlikely to outweigh the risk of adverse effects such as hypoglycaemia.
Highlights
Published reports on the incidence of bite wounds in dogs and cats vary from 10.2 % to 14.7 % of trauma cases[24], with a high incidence of severe bite wounds in intact male dogs weighing less than 10 kg[39].The average dog’s canine tooth can generate a crushing pressure of 150 to 450 pounds per square inch[8,36]
This study found no association between the degree of hypo- or hyperglycaemia and the eventual outcome, which was similar to a study on head trauma[41]
The low incidence of hypoglycaemia is surprising considering the high incidence of systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) encountered
Summary
Published reports on the incidence of bite wounds in dogs and cats vary from 10.2 % to 14.7 % of trauma cases[24], with a high incidence of severe bite wounds in intact male dogs weighing less than 10 kg[39].The average dog’s canine tooth can generate a crushing pressure of 150 to 450 pounds per square inch[8,36]. The shearing and tensile forces involved in the crushing and shaking of especially smaller dogs can cause a large amount of damage to the underlying fascia, muscle, vasculature, nervous tissue, bone and parenchymatous organs[10,20,35,36], which predisposes these wounds to swelling, ischaemia and necrosis. This type of tissue damage is a result of the penetration of the dog’s teeth from an area with elastic tissue to an area with less elastic tissue[36].
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