Prognostic value of preoperative plasma l-lactate concentrations in calves with acute abdominal emergencies

Additive prognostic value of preoperative plasma glucose concentrations in calves undergoing abdominal surgery

“…In this context, recent studies (Lausch et al, 2019(Lausch et al, , 2020Giertzuch et al, 2020) have focused on the prognostic relevance of plasma l-lactate concentrations (l-LAC), because measurement of this metabolite can be easily performed using handheld l-lactate analyzers such as the Lactate-Pro device (Arkray; Buczinski et al, 2014). These studies revealed that markedly increased l-LAC is associated with an increased mortality risk, but that it is not possible to reliably predict the outcome of affected calves based on a single, preoperative measurement (Lausch et al, 2019(Lausch et al, , 2020. However, a remarkable finding was that survival rates of affected neonatal calves are low and the predictive accuracy of l-LAC can be improved when the age of the calf is additionally considered (Lausch et al, 2019).…”

“…These conditions are associated with a grave prognosis, however, as indicated by reported success rates of 24 to 51% (Iselin et al, 1997;Mulon and Desrochers, 2005;Lausch et al, 2020). This issue has been attributed to irreversible organ damage due to rapid disease progression, concomitant complications such as sepsis and endotoxemia, as well as a high prevalence of peritonitis and malformations if neonatal calves are affected (Iselin et al, 1997;Mulon and Desrochers, 2005;Lausch et al, 2019). Consequently, for economic and animal welfare reasons, there is a need for rapid and easily detectable biomarkers that allow for an objective and accurate prediction of the outcome of therapy in affected animals.…”

“…These studies revealed that markedly increased l-LAC is associated with an increased mortality risk, but that it is not possible to reliably predict the outcome of affected calves based on a single, preoperative measurement (Lausch et al, 2019(Lausch et al, , 2020. However, a remarkable finding was that survival rates of affected neonatal calves are low and the predictive accuracy of l-LAC can be improved when the age of the calf is additionally considered (Lausch et al, 2019). Furthermore, hyper-l-lactatemia during the initial postoperative period was shown to be a more reliable prognostic indicator than hyper-l-lactatemia before initiation of therapy (Lausch et al, 2020).…”

“…The primary aim of the present study was therefore to assess the prognostic utility of preoperative GLUC in study populations of hospitalized calves with a broad spectrum of acute abdominal emergencies. A secondary aim was to assess whether consideration of GLUC improves the accuracy of a previously established model based on l-LAC and age (Lausch et al, 2019). Based on the results of previous studies, we hypothesized that low GLUC concentrations in affected animals are associated with a higher mortality risk and that measurement of GLUC provides additional prognostic information.…”

“…This study is based on analysis of retrospective and prospective data sets [DS1 and DS2, respectively] that were used in previous studies focusing on the prognostic utility of pre-and postoperative l-LAC measurements in calves with surgical abdominal emergencies (Lausch et al, 2019(Lausch et al, , 2020. Because of a partial overlap of investigation periods, a subset of calves up to the age of 21 d in both study populations were part of a much larger data set of 10,060 calves in a previous study on the prevalence, clinical associations, and prognosis of severe hypoglycemia in neonatal calves (Trefz et al, 2016).…”