New, Simple Diagnostic Tool for Chronic Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) in Dogs and Cats

Chronic diseases of the gastrointestinal tract are not uncommon in dogs and cats, and diagnosis and therapy are often lengthy. These diseases include IBD, the diagnosis of which is difficult and complex.

• As a rule, various tests are carried out to confirm or rule out parasites, infections, or Tumors as the cause.
• Endoscopy and tissue samples under general anesthesia are the next steps.
• Diagnostic abdominal surgery to obtain a tissue sample and a clear diagnosis has so far been indicated in rare cases.

For cost reasons, therapy often takes place without an exact diagnosis being made.

The veterinarians of the VCA team (https://vcahospitals.com/) started a series of investigations in which 3 blood tests, as they are used in humans for the diagnosis of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), were compared with the results of tissue samples.

The investigations were carried out on 157 dogs with IBD, 24 dogs with other types of gastrointestinal diseases and 33 healthy dogs over a period of up to 3 months during treatment and follow-up examinations.

The content of three special proteins was determined in the blood samples, which are closely related to specific disease processes of the gastrointestinal tract. The research results were published in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine.

The study results showed that, based on the protein concentrations of these 3 proteins, an exact differentiation was possible between dogs with Intestinal Bowel Disease, IBD (highest protein content), dogs with other gastrointestinal diseases and healthy dogs (lowest protein content).

Under the treatment and improvement of the symptoms, an alignment of the protein concentration to healthy dogs could be demonstrated.

This simple blood test enables veterinarians to make a more accurate and cost-effective diagnosis with regard to IBD and to rule it out as the cause of chronic gastrointestinal problems. Further investigations are intended to check the success of the therapy using this test.

The new serum diagnostic tool is already available to veterinarians and is an excellent example of a quick path from new knowledge to new practice.

Source:
Philip J. Bergman, DVM, MS, PhD, Diplomate ACVIM (Oncology) is the Director of Clinical Studies at VCA. The research results were published in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine in June 2021.