Resting and postprandial serum bile acid concentrations in dogs with liver disease
Serum bile acids (SBA) are frequently measured in dogs, but there is limited data on their efficacy to distinguish different causes of liver disease.
This study composed of 341 dogs aimed to compare resting and postprandial SBA concentrations in several liver diseases and assess the sensitivity and specificity of these tests for each disease.
All dogs had liver diseases and were submitted to histological biopsy and concurrent measurement of SBA concentrations within 7 days. Histological diagnosis was used to group the cases into vascular, biliary, parenchymal, and neoplastic disorders.
Authors have found that the sensitivities of postprandial SBA concentrations for the diagnosis of liver disease were higher than resting SBA. On the other hand, resting SBA had higher specificities than postprandial SBA when the same cut-off values were used. This means postprandial SBA might be more useful to exclude liver disease, although some dogs with liver disease had postprandial values below the reference range.
To know more about the findings in each group, read the complete article.
Pena-Ramos J., Barker L., Saiz R., Walker D., Tappin S., Hare C., Roberts M., Williams T., Bexfield N. (2021) ‘Resting and postprandial serum bile acid concentrations in dogs with liver disease’, Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, 35(3).
