Effects of blood contamination on peritoneal D-dimer concentration in horses with colic.

The research examined whether the contamination of peritoneal fluid with blood affects the interpretation of peritoneal D-Dimer concentration in horses with colic, concluding that even though high levels of blood contamination can theoretically influence the quantitative results, the interpretation of increased peritoneal fibrinolytic activity would not be significantly affected.

Research Details

• The researchers examined how blood contamination could affect the concentration of D-Dimer, a protein fragment that is present after a blood clot dissolves, in the peritoneal fluid of horses suffering from colic.
• The study was conducted on 34 horses with colic and 4 healthy horses.

Procedures

• Upon admission, blood and peritoneal fluid samples were collected from the horses.
• The peritoneal fluid was then progressively contaminated with the horse’s own blood upto 1%, 5%, 10%, and 20% of the fluid sample.
• The D-Dimer concentration was measured in these peritoneal fluid samples, as well as in the blood samples.
• A longitudinal linear model and a generalized estimating equations analysis were used to evaluate changes in D-Dimer concentration due to blood contamination.

Results

• It was found that only when the peritoneal fluid was contaminated with 20% of blood, the D-Dimer concentration was quantitatively affected.
• However, this effect was not observed when the D-Dimer concentration exceeded 8,000 and 16,000 ng/mL.
• Upon grouping the contaminated samples as ‘minimally contaminated’ (less than or equal to 1% blood) and ‘highly contaminated’ (5% or more blood), there was no significant difference in the D-Dimer concentration at various cut-off values.

Conclusions

• The study concluded that even though high levels of blood contamination (> or =20%) could potentially affect the measured values of D-Dimer concentration, it would not significantly affect the interpretation of increased peritoneal fibrinolytic activity.