Thrombin-antithrombin complex measurement using a point-of-care testing device for diagnosis of disseminated intravascular coagulation in dogs

Reference interval for thrombin-antithrombin complex (TAT) level was determined using an in-house TAT measurement device, and its validity for diagnosis of disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) was evaluated in dogs. One hundred and two clinically healthy dogs and 247 diseased dogs with conditions that potentially caused DIC were recruited in the study. Six diagnostic testing for DIC were evaluated in diseased dogs and the diseased dogs were categorized into five groups depending on abnormal findings. TAT was measured in all study animals and between-group differences were evaluated. TAT level was positively associated with severity of DIC. There were no significant differences in TAT levels among clinically healthy dogs, diseased dogs without any abnormal finding and diseased dogs with one abnormal finding in the DIC diagnostic testing. TAT levels in groups with two or more abnormal findings were significantly higher than clinically healthy dogs. Reference interval of TAT level for clinically healthy dogs was ≤ 0.25 ng/ml. Validity of using TAT for early detection of DIC was evaluated. In-house TAT measurement was suggested to be a clinically relevant and useful tool for early detection of canine DIC.

本研究采用本实验室自制的凝血酶-抗凝血酶复合物（thrombin-antithrombin complex, TAT）检测装置，确定了犬TAT水平的参考区间，并评估了其用于诊断犬弥散性血管内凝血（disseminated intravascular coagulation, DIC）的有效性。本研究共纳入102只临床健康犬及247只存在潜在诱发弥散性血管内凝血疾病的患病犬。对患病犬开展6项弥散性血管内凝血诊断检测，并依据异常检测结果将其划分为5个组别。对所有受试动物的TAT水平进行检测并分析组间差异。结果显示，TAT水平与弥散性血管内凝血的严重程度呈正相关。临床健康犬、无异常检测结果的患病犬，以及仅1项弥散性血管内凝血诊断检测结果异常的患病犬之间，TAT水平无显著差异。存在2项及以上异常检测结果的患病犬组，其TAT水平显著高于临床健康犬。临床健康犬的TAT水平参考区间为≤0.25 ng/ml。本研究评估了采用TAT检测早期筛查犬弥散性血管内凝血的有效性，结果表明，本实验室自制的TAT检测装置可作为一款具有临床应用价值的实用工具，用于早期诊断犬弥散性血管内凝血。