[Determination of fibrinogen levels in the horse with the heat-precipitation methods of Schalm and Millar].

The research article presents a study that compared the effectiveness of two heat-precipitation methods, Schalm and Millar, in determining plasma fibrinogen concentration in horses. The study concluded that the Millar method was more precise and reliable than the Schalm method.

Study Purpose and Methods

• The primary aim of this research was to evaluate the utility of two different heat-precipitation tests, the Schalm and Millar methods, as screening tools for the measurement of plasma fibrinogen concentration in horses.
• The researchers compared the tests by measuring samples taken from 108 different horses.

Results

• The correlation coefficient (CC) for the relationship between the results from the Schalm method and the reference method, Jacobsson, was much lower (r = 0.78) compared with the correlation between the Millar method and the Jacobsson method (r = 0.94).
• The coefficient of variation (CV), a measure of precision, was also considered. The Schalm method proved to be less precise, with a higher CV for a sample with low-limit fibrinogen concentration (CV = 47.4%) and a sample with high fibrinogen concentration (CV = 35.6%). In contrast, the Millar method showed superior precision, with CV = 11.1% and 2.9%, respectively.

Conclusions and Recommendations

• Fibrinogen values for 40 healthy horses, aged between 3 to 19 years, ranged from 1.82 to 4.94 g/l (2.5-97.5% quantile).
• Given the results of the study, the researchers recommend the Millar method as a simpler and more appropriate heat-precipitation assay for fibrinogen determination in horses.