Diagnosis of Feline Pancreatitis with SNAP FPL and Spec FPL

Overview

Journal J Feline Med Surg

Specialty Veterinary Medicine

Date 2018 Sep 6

PMID 30183482

Citations 9

Authors

Fanny Schnauss

Franziska Hanisch

Iwan Anton Burgener

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Objectives: Pancreatitis is a frequent disease in cats for which the ante-mortem diagnosis remains challenging. Feline pancreatic lipase immunoreactivity (fPLI) has been reported to have a high sensitivity for the diagnosis of pancreatitis. The aim of this study was to compare the rapid in-house test SNAP fPL with the standard test Spec fPL and to evaluate the use of SNAP fPL to diagnose pancreatitis in an emergency setting.

Methods: fPLI of 111 cats with a clinical suspicion of pancreatitis was measured with both SNAP fPL and Spec fPL. Furthermore, clinical signs, haematological and biochemical changes, and abdominal ultrasound findings were recorded.

Results: Seventy-eight of 111 cats (70.3%) were tested below the cut-off level for pancreatitis with SNAP, as well as Spec fPL, whereas 21/111 (18.9%) were tested with values above the cut-off level with both tests. In 12/111 (10.8%) cats the results were discordant. The comparison of both tests revealed an agreement of 78/80 (97.5%) when Spec fPL was ⩽3.5 μg/l (negative) and 18/20 (90%) when Spec fPL was ⩾5.4 μg/l (positive). The most common clinical signs in cats with suspected pancreatitis (n = 21) were lethargy (95.2%), reduced appetite and vomiting (90.5% each), dehydration (81.0%), diarrhoea (57.1%), abdominal pain and weight loss (47.6% each). Hyperglycaemia and hyperbilirubinaemia (85.7% each), increased aspartate transaminase (76.2%) and alanine transaminase (47.6%), leucocytosis (61.9%), lymphopenia (57.1%), decreased sodium and chloride (57.1% each), and increased urea (52.4%) were the most common abnormalities in blood work.

Conclusions And Relevance: Clinical signs, as well as routine blood-work changes, were non-specific and thus proved to be insufficient to diagnose pancreatitis. The combination of SNAP fPL and subsequent Spec fPL, if indicated, provided the opportunity to rule out or to diagnose pancreatitis with a higher certainty than previously known test methods. This study proved SNAP fPL to be a valuable tool to exclude or include pancreatitis in an emergency setting.

Citing Articles

Evaluation of laboratory findings indicating pancreatitis in healthy lean, obese, and diabetic cats.

Jorgensen F, Bjornvad C, Krabbe B, Nybroe S, Kieler I J Vet Intern Med. 2024; 39(1):e17236.

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Specificity of a pancreatic lipase point-of-care test and agreement with pancreatic lipase immunoreactivity in cats without clinical evidence of pancreatitis.

Xenoulis P, Moraiti K, Spanou V, Chatzis M, Kokkinaki K, Saridomichelakis M J Feline Med Surg. 2023; 25(7):1098612X231183299.

PMID: 37498286 PMC: 10812057. DOI: 10.1177/1098612X231183299.

Evaluation of Clinicopathological Data, the Specific Feline Pancreatic Lipase Assay, and Abdominal Ultrasound as Severity Determinants in Cats with Pancreatitis.

Buckley C, Lee A, Wills R, Sullivant A, Cridge H Vet Sci. 2023; 10(3).

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Serial Measurement of Serum Pancreatic Lipase Immunoreactivity, Feline Trypsin-like Immunoreactivity, and Cobalamin Concentrations in Kittens.

Stavroulaki E, Kokkinaki K, Saridomichelakis M, Steiner J, Lidbury J, Xenoulis P Vet Sci. 2022; 9(9).

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The Agreement between Feline Pancreatic Lipase Immunoreactivity and DGGR-Lipase Assay in Cats-Preliminary Results.

Krasztel M, Czopowicz M, Szalus-Jordanow O, Moroz A, Mickiewicz M, Kaba J Animals (Basel). 2021; 11(11).

PMID: 34827904 PMC: 8614432. DOI: 10.3390/ani11113172.

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