Evaluation of thromboelastography for prediction of clinical bleeding in thrombocytopenic dogs after total body irradiation and hematopoietic cell transplantation.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether thromboelastography is more accurate than conventional methods of evaluating hemostasis for the prediction of clinical bleeding in thrombocytopenic dogs following total body irradiation (TBI) and bone marrow transplantation (BMT). ANIMALS: 10 client-owned thrombocytopenic dogs with multicentric lymphoma. PROCEDURES: Results of a kaolin-activated thromboelastography assay, platelet count, and buccal mucosal bleeding time were evaluated for correlation to clinical bleeding.
RESULTS: Maximum amplitude, derived via thromboelastography, was the only hemostatic variable with significant correlation to clinical bleeding. Buccal mucosal bleeding time had a high sensitivity but poor specificity for identifying dogs with clinical bleeding. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Compared with buccal mucosal bleeding time and platelet count, thromboelastography was more reliable at identifying thrombocytopenic dogs with a low risk of bleeding and could be considered to help guide the use of transfusion products in dogs undergoing TBI and BMT.