title: Association Between Necropsy Evidence of Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation and Hemostatic Variables Before Death in Horses With Colic.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is frequent in horses with severe gastrointestinal disorders. Postmortem studies have found fibrin microthrombi in tissues of these horses, but studies relating these histopathological findings with antemortem hemostatic data are lacking.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Antemortem classification of coagulopathy is related to the presence and severity of fibrin deposits observed postmortem in horses with severe gastrointestinal disorders.
  
  
  METHODS
  Antemortem hemostatic profile data and postmortem tissue samples (kidney, lung, liver) from 48 horses with colic.
  
  
  METHODS
  Tissue samples were stained with phosphotungstic acid hematoxylin and immunohistochemical methods for histological examination. A fibrin score (grades 0-4) was assigned for each technique, tissue and horse, as well as the presence or absence of DIC at postmortem examination. D-dimer concentration, prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), and antithrombin (AT) activity, as well as the clinicopathological evidence of coagulopathy, were determined from plasma samples collected 0-24 hours before death or euthanasia. Histologic and clinicopathologic data from the same horses were compared retrospectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No association was found between antemortem classification of coagulopathy and postmortem diagnosis of DIC based on tissue fibrin deposition. None of the hemostatic parameters was significantly different between horses with or without postmortem diagnosis of DIC. There was no association between horses with fibrin in tissues or different cut-offs for D-dimer concentration and postmortem evidence of DIC.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Abnormalities of the routine clotting profile, including D-dimer concentration, were not useful in predicting histologic evidence of DIC at necropsy in horses with severe gastrointestinal disorders.
authors.affiliation: Servei de Medicina Interna Equina, Fundació Hospital Clínic Veterinari and Departament de Medicina i Cirurgia Animals, Facultat de Veterinària, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cesarini
authors.affiliation: CECAV, Centro de Ciência Animal e Veterinária and Departamento de Ciências Veterinárias, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Quinta de Prados, 5000-801, Vila Real, Portugal.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cotovio
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biostatistics & Epidemiology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; Statistics and Methodology Support Unit, IDIBAPS, Hospital Clínic, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ríos
authors.affiliation: Servei de Medicina Interna Equina, Fundació Hospital Clínic Veterinari and Departament de Medicina i Cirurgia Animals, Facultat de Veterinària, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Armengou
authors.affiliation: Servei de Medicina Interna Equina, Fundació Hospital Clínic Veterinari and Departament de Medicina i Cirurgia Animals, Facultat de Veterinària, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jose-Cunilleras
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003085:Colic / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality / Q000662:veterinary*; D004211:Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications / Q000662:veterinary*; D005260:Female; D005337:Fibrin / Q000378:metabolism; D006734:Horse Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D006736:Horses; D008297:Male
chemical_list: D005337:Fibrin
keywords: Coagulopathy; D-dimer; Equine; Thrombi