Dogs undergoing elective neutering, elective orthopedic, and posttraumatic orthopedic surgical procedures were enrolled.
D-dimer concentration, measured immediately prior to, immediately after, and 24 hours after surgery (T0, T1, and T24, respectively), was compared within and among study groups.
D-dimer concentration was >250 ng/mL in 8 (18%) dogs at T0, in 9 (20%) at T1, and in 5 (11%) at T24. At T1 and T24, only 2 dogs had a D-dimer concentration >500 ng/mL, and it was <750 ng/mL in all dogs.
There was no difference in the proportion of increased D-dimer concentration (>250 ng/mL) among the time points (P = 0.29).
Median D-dimer concentration did not vary between time points within the groups, except in the neutering group (P = 0.029), in which T1 concentration tended to increase compared with T0 values (161 ng/dL, range 71-727 vs 122 ng/mL, range, 43-353, respectively; P = .065).
The surgical procedures tested in this study are unlikely to cause a direct increase in D-dimer concentration.
Any increase in D-dimer concentration after elective neutering, elective orthopedic, and posttraumatic orthopedic surgical procedures should be regarded as clinically important and trigger investigations to detect a hemostatic derangement.
Source: Shipov A, Milgram J, Shalev N, Aroch I, Segev G. Changes in D-dimer concentration after soft tissue and orthopedic surgery in dogs. Veterinary Surgery. 2018;00:1-6. https://doi.org/10.1111/vsu.12779
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