Acute Phase Response to Surgery of Varying Intensity in Horses: A Preliminary Study

Abstract

Postoperative measurements of SAA, fibrinogen, and iron may be useful for comparing surgical trauma associated with new and established surgical techniques. Moreover, knowledge of the normal postoperative acute phase response is essential, if acute phase reactants are to be used for monitoring occurrence of postoperative infections.

Factors Influencing Serum Amyloid Type A (Saa) Concentrations in Horses

“…This pattern had also previously been shown in mares experimentally infected with equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1), although in this case, a second rise occurred later, i.e., at 10 -12 days from the onset of the process, an expected phenomenon during the inflammatory process [34]. In both cases, the second increase was not accompanied by a worsening of clinical signs and the values returned to the normal reference ranges for 7 -15 days after surgery [23,32].…”

“…In addition, Fb does not serve to monitor the effective of the treatment as the response and plasma clearance occur over time. By contrast, the levels of SAA after injury are independent of the values before the onset of the disease [32] and its half-life in blood is very short.…”

“…These controversial results suggest that fluctuations in the levels of age-dependent SAA are so insignificant that no clinical significance in the horse. In fact, a recent study by Jacobsen et al [32] showed no variations in this age-associated protein.…”

“…Various factors such as fear, excitement and infections, among others, mainly induce increased cortisol and neutrophilic leukocytosis type levels. Neutrophils have a very limited kinetics and, therefore, are not considered to be markers of the intensity of the trauma [32]. For this reason, to monitor certainly inflammatory or infectious process, the serum profiles of SAA reflect better the course of the inflammation, since they are correlated by the severity of the process.…”

“…The Fb is present in high amounts in healthy horses, and decrease in situations of increased vascular permeability or excessive consumption and coagulation disorders which may mask the inflammatory or infectious process [13,31,32]. Finally, the standard method of measurement of Fb is insensitive to small changes, so it only detects changes above 100 mg/dL [33].…”