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Interleukin‐6 as a prognostic marker in dogs in an intensive care unit
Author(s) -
Schüttler Julia,
Neumann Stephan
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
veterinary clinical pathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.537
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1939-165X
pISSN - 0275-6382
DOI - 10.1111/vcp.12255
Subject(s) - medicine , intensive care unit , gastroenterology , intensive care , interleukin 6 , acute phase protein , interleukin , inflammation , cytokine , intensive care medicine
Background Interleukin‐6 ( IL ‐6) is involved in the acute phase reaction during inflammatory disease, including septicemia and the inflammatory response syndrome ( SIRS ). In people, IL ‐6 has been studied as a prognostic marker in intensive care medicine, where nonsurvivors had significantly higher IL‐6 concentrations than survivors. Objectives The objective of the study was to investigate the prognostic value of IL ‐6 in dogs admitted to the intensive care unit based on sensitivity and specificity. Methods Dogs suffering from different severe diseases treated in the intensive care unit were divided into 2 groups of survivors and nonsurvivors. Serum IL ‐6 concentrations were measured with a canine‐specific ELISA (enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay) kit. Results Sixty‐nine dogs were included in the study, including 20 survivors, 9 nonsurvivors, and 40 control dogs. In the control group, IL ‐6 serum concentrations were below the detection level (0 pg/mL). In the group of nonsurviving dogs, IL ‐6 ranged from 45–4656 pg/mL (median 1398 pg/mL). The surviving dogs had a range of 0–405 pg/mL (median 84.5 pg/mL). The mean IL ‐6 concentration was significantly higher ( P < .001) in nonsurvivors than in survivors. Using a cutoff of 400 pg/mL, a sensitivity of 90% and specificity of 95% were determined. Conclusions The results of this study suggest that IL ‐6 is a useful prognostic marker for canine critical care patients with acute internal disease.