Prognostic markers and assessment of a previously published clinical severity index in 109 hospitalised dogs with acute presentation of pancreatitis

Background Acute pancreatitis (AP) is common in dogs. Nevertheless, validated clinical severity index (CSI) scoring systems to assess severity and guide treatment in current, large-scale studies are unavailable. Methods This is a retrospective study including 109 dogs. Pancreatitis was diagnosed based on clinical signs, abdominal sonographic evidence, positive pancreatic lipase assays and experts' assessment consensus. Results The survival rate was 75 per cent (82 dogs). Azotaemia and presence of local complications (ie, ascites) and secondary complications (ie, acute kidney injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome) were significantly associated with death. In agreement with the previously published CSI, respiratory anomalies were significantly associated with death. However, in disagreement with that study, high scores in the kidney and local abdominal complication categories and the sum of scores of all nine categories, but not high gastrointestinal category score, were also significantly associated with death. A final CSI score of at least 4 was associated with death. Conclusions This study has validated a nine-category CSI, proven a useful assessment tool in dogs with AP. Several previously reported and novel prognostic markers were assessed.