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Updated: Apr 15, 2026
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Published on: September 7, 2018
Assessment of coagulation utilizing thromboelastometry in dogs undergoing orthopedic surgery
Barbara Bruno1, Cristiana Maurella2, Sara Falco1
1Department of Animal Pathology, Clinical Medicine Section, Grugliasco, Torino, Italy.
Objective:
To evaluate blood coagulation using thromboelastometry in dogs following orthopedic surgery.
Design:
Longitudinal observational study.
Setting:
University veterinary teaching hospital.
Animals:
Thirty-four adult client-owned dogs.
Measurements And Main Results:
Dogs undergoing elective or emergency orthopedic surgery had whole blood collected before (T0), at 24 hours (T1), and 1 week (T2) after surgery. Whole blood from each dog was collected by jugular venipuncture using a 20-Ga needle and minimum venous stasis. The blood was placed into tubes containing 3.8% trisodium citrate (1 part citrate: 9 parts blood) and rested at 37°C. Coagulation was evaluated by means of thromboelastometry using the in-TEM, ex-TEM, and fib-TEM assays. Statistically significant increases (P < 0.05) in maximum clot firmness (MCF) from T0 to T1 in the in-TEM and fib-TEM profiles (both P = 0.0001), from T0 to T2 in the in-TEM, ex-TEM, and fib-TEM profiles (P = 0.012, P = 0.037, and P = 0.0001, respectively), and from T1 to T2 in the fib-TEM profile (P = 0.039) were noted. The α angle increased from T0 to T2 in the in-TEM and ex-TEM profiles (P = 0.019 and P = 0.036, respectively). All results were, however, within the institutional reference ranges.
Conclusions:
In this study, unlike the hypercoagulability observed in human orthopedic patients, a hypercoagulable state as measured by thromboelastometry did not develop in dogs following orthopedic surgery.
