Acid‐base imbalances and the association of blood‐gas variables, electrolytes, and biochemical analytes with outcome in hospitalized calves undergoing abdominal surgery

Abstract

Background Surgical abdominal emergencies in calves are associated with a guarded prognosis and have the potential for complex metabolic derangements including acid‐base imbalances. Objectives To perform a comprehensive analysis of acid‐base status and to assess the prognostic relevance of preoperative clinicopathologic variables in calves undergoing abdominal surgery. Animals Hospital‐based study samples of 535 (dataset 1; DS1) and 83 calves (dataset 2; DS2). Methods Retrospective (DS1) and prospective (DS2) case series. Results In DS1, acidemia (pH <7.33) was present in 49.9%, whereas alkalemia (pH >7.37) was present in 30.7% of calves. Plasma L‐lactate, chloride, and serum inorganic phosphorus concentration accounted for 51.9%, 11.6% and 9.4% of the variation of venous blood pH, respectively. Classification tree analysis indicated that a negative outcome (death or euthanasia during hospitalization) was associated with venous pO 2 ≤33.6 mm Hg, anion gap >18.3 and >22.9 mEq/L, serum albumin concentration ≤36.5 and ≤29.4 g/L, serum urea concentration >4.4 mmol/L, and plasma ionized calcium concentration ≤1.26 mmol/L. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of this model was 0.85 (95% CI: 0.82‐0.89, P < .001) and the resulting sensitivity and specificity for the prediction of nonsurvival at the optimal probability cut‐point of 0.5 was 89.8% and 65.7%, respectively. In DS2 the model had a similar sensitivity and specificity of 90.5% and 70%, respectively. Conclusions and Clinical Importance Clinicopathologic imbalances and associated changes of acid‐base status are common in calves with surgical abdominal emergencies and have clinical utility for the prediction of a negative postoperative outcome.

Blood gases, acid‐base, and metabolic alterations in calves with bronchopneumonia diagnosed via clinical signs and thoracic ultrasonography: A cross‐sectional study

“…29 In disease conditions characterized by pronounced metabolic changes, negative values for the calculated USI and SIG indicate the presence of unidentified anions often correlate with negative outcomes of the disease. 23,25,30,31 Median USI and SIG values in our study were within the normal limits for healthy and diseased calves diagnosed with TUS and in groups based on categorizing TUS and WISC score. The statistical differences were found in calves with ultrasonographic lung consolidations, which paradoxically had higher mean values than healthy calves.…”

“…In WISC 5 /TUS 1cm and WISC 5 /TUS 3cm categorizations, there was a clear difference between calves with and without lung consolidations detected by TUS, although, the abnormalities found were usually not beyond the normal reference ranges (see Table 2). Overall, these results suggest that metabolic changes during an episode of BP diagnosed with WISC score or by TUS set at ≥1 or ≥3 cm were less critical than other disease conditions characterized by severe disarrangements, such as abdominal surgical emergencies and diarrhea in calves 23,25 or severe mastitis and acute diarrhea in goats, 26 which were characterized by clinicopathologic imbalances and alterations in acid‐base status exceeding the reference ranges. Our results agree with previous observations, 10 which showed that in calves with BP the overall effects on base‐acid balance were of mild to moderate magnitude.…”

“…Reference range 23 Note: WISC 5 = Healthy calves defined as the total score of <5 by the Wisconsin respiratory scoring system; BP calves defined as the total score of ≥5. TUS 1cm = Healthy calves defined as such in the absence of lung consolidation; BP calves defined by the presence of consolidation at least 1 site with depth ≥1 cm.…”

“…The sSID variables were then calculated according to previously described formulas. 23 The concentration of nonvolatile weak acids (A TOT , [mmol/L]) was calculated from the STP concentration (g/L)…”

Preoperative and Surgical Predictors of the Treatment Outcome of Dairy Cows with Right Abomasal Displacement—A Retrospective Study of 234 Cases

“…This interpretation is corroborated by the higher Crea levels in non-survivors when compared with survivors, as well as higher Hct, Hb, and RBC values in non-survivors compared with survivors. Urea was also found to be a better predictor of a postoperative outcome when compared with Crea in calves, according to a recent study [ 28 ]. Serum urea is considered to be more sensitive for the diagnosis of dehydration, as elevated values are the result of increased renal tubular reabsorption and decreased renal glomerular filtration, while elevated Crea are only the result of decreased renal glomerular filtration [ 7 ].…”