Speaking Out Response

Abstract

Dear Editor,Dr. Chanoit’s review of the use of creatine kinase (CK) is very valuable, and some of his suggestions may be incorporated into future studies. However, the primary purpose of this study was to describe a laparoscopic technique to perform ovariohysterectomy in the dog. Additional studies evaluating pain levels and postoperative complications may also be performed in the future. Our brief evaluation of CK by two individual readings was a pilot study design to determine if this simple protocol may be used in future studies as a means of comparison with open techniques. Because of the constraints of our study performed on adoptable shelter animals, multiple samples were not feasible.We would also like to address some of Dr. Chanoit’s questions regarding variables affecting CK. The intramuscular (IM) injections of acepromazine used on each dog were all of the same concentration, pH, osmolarity, and type of vehicle, and the volume injected was based on body weight; therefore, the IM injection should have had relatively similar effects on CK levels in all the dogs.1 The epidural injection was performed in the same manner in all dogs. As stated in the article, anesthesia was induced with propofol (which has been shown not to have any effect on CK levels in dogs2) and maintained with isoflurane. Therefore, these variables should have had an equal impact on serum CK levels in all dogs within the study.To conclude, our data shows that differences in plasma CK levels, run on the same dog before and 12 hours after surgery, did not correlate with length of operative time or any other variable recorded in our study. Therefore, we do not feel this protocol is an adequate indicator of surgical stress.