The diagnostic significance of increased urinary and serum amylase activity in bitches with pyometra.

The serum amylase and the serum lipase activities determined simultaneously were normal in 92 bitches with pyometra (group A). To determine the usefulness of the information provided by the measurement of urinary amylase activity in pyometra dogs, the relation of serum and urinary amylase activity to urinary protein and serum lipase activity in paired serum and urine samples was investigated in 39 control bitches and in a second group of 66 bitches with pyometra (group B). The 39 control bitches and 18 pyometra bitches (group B1) had normal urinary amylase activity and showed neither a change in urinary protein nor in serum amylase or lipase activities. There was no relationship between the urinary amylase activity and the urinary protein level or the serum amylase activity. The remaining forty-eight pyometra bitches (group B2) had normal serum lipase activity and increased urinary amylase activity (amylasuria), which correlated highly with the increased urinary protein concentration and to a lesser degree with the increased serum amylase activity. Renal failure in 15 of those bitches had no influence on the degree of increase in the urinary or serum amylase activity. It was concluded that, in the absence of any significant indication of pancreatic disease, amylasuria and amylasaemia in bitches with pyometra are a strong indication of renal glomerular disease. Amylasuria was indicative to some degree of an increased serum amylase activity, but was unrelated to renal failure.

Urinary gamma-glutamyl transferase and the degree of renal dysfunction in 75 bitches with pyometra.

In 75 bitches with pyometra single urine samples were examined for gamma-glutamyl transferase (gamma-GT), protein, glucose, specific gravity, bacteria, red blood cells and white blood cells. Serum samples were examined for urea, creatinine, inorganic phosphate and gamma-GT. Biochemical findings were compared with the degree of illness (clinical signs). Twenty one bitches had no signs of renal disease. Seventeen showed only glomerular damage indicated by proteinuria without signs of proximal tubular damage. Thirty seven bitches had increased urinary gamma-GT levels, indicating proximal tubular lesions, which were associated with proteinuria in 35 and renal failure in 16 of them, and worse clinical findings. In all bitches with pyometra serum levels of gamma-GT were comparable to values in control bitches. Glomerular dysfunction seemed to precede proximal tubular lesions, so that gamma-GT-uria in bitches with pyometra was not an early but rather a late indication of a more profound degree of renal dysfunction, that is, proximal tubular renal damage developed after glomerular dysfunction and preceding renal failure.

Renal injury in dogs with pyometra.

In a group of 58 dogs with proven pyometra, 10 bitches developed renal failure, combined with increased (p less than 0.01) urinary excretion of protein, glucose, gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT), alkaline phosphatase (AP), amylase, lipase and casts. Thirty-two bitches without renal failure showed nevertheless signs of renal dysfunction as indicated by increased (p less than 0.01) urinary levels of protein, glucose, GGT, AP and amylase. Six bitches without significant proteinuria showed increased (p less than 0.02) urinary levels of GGT, AP as well as amylase. Thus renal injury was detected in 72 per cent of the bitches. Sixteen bitches showed normal urinary levels of protein, glucose, GGT, AP, amylase and lipase, indicating absence of renal disease.

The characteristic pattern of aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase in the bitch with the cystic hyperplasia-pyometra complex: effect of medical or surgical treatment.

In 75 clinically normal unspayed female control dogs between two and eleven years old the average plasma level of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) was 21.6 +/- 5.7 (+/- SD) IU/l, of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) 40.4 +/- 13.0 IU/l and of the AST/ALT ratio 0.6 +/- 0.2. These values showed only minor changes over years. In 96 bitches with the cystic hyperplasia-pyometra complex there was a very significant increase of the AST, decrease of the ALT and increase of the AST/ALT ratio. The changes were more pronounced in 62 clinically ill bitches with typical endometritis post oestrum, in 18 dogs with gram negative organisms in the uterus and in 53 bitches with white blood cell (WBC) levels higher than 40 X 10(9)/1. Renal failure had no influence on the specific changed values. The changed values returned either temporarily to normal after prostaglandin (PGF2 alpha)-treatment or definitely after ovariohysterectomy.