A retrospective study of canine D‐dimer concentrations measured using an immunometric “Point‐of‐Care” test

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Abstract
Objectives: To measure the D‐dimer concentrations in both healthy dogs and dogs with and without evidence of thromboembolic disease/disseminated intravascular coagulation using a “Point‐of‐Care” test. Methods: Sixty‐seven clinical cases and 26 healthy dogs were included in this retrospective study. D‐dimer was measured using the NycoCard D‐dimer test. Clinical conditions were categorised based on clinical findings, laboratory results, imaging, cytology, histopathology, necropsy or a combination of these tests. Results: There were no dogs for which the NycoCard D‐dimer test did not produce a result. The D‐dimer range in clinically healthy dogs was 0·1 to 0·5 mg/l (median 0·2 mg/l). In eight of nine cases with thromboembolic disease/disseminated intravascular coagulation and 43 of 58 of the cases without thromboembolic disease/disseminated intravascular coagulation , the D‐dimer concentrations were greater than those of healthy dogs. Clinical Significance: The NycoCard D‐dimer test card required no specialised equipment and could therefore facilitate rapid screening for thromboembolic disease/disseminated intravascular coagulation in first opinion practice. Elevations in D‐dimer concentration can be found in a number of clinical conditions apart from thromboembolic disease/disseminated intravascular coagulation and should not therefore be used as the sole basis of diagnosis. D‐dimer may be considered a good screening test for thromboembolic disease/disseminated intravascular coagulation as only one case with histopathological evidence of thromboembolic disease/disseminated intravascular coagulation had a D‐dimer concentration in the range seen in healthy dogs.

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