AUTHOR=Bunnell Nicole , Blong April , Kundu Debosmita , Mochel Jonathan Paul , Walton Rebecca 

TITLE=Blood product usage and factors associated with transfusions in cats with hemoperitoneum: 33 cases (2018–2022)

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Veterinary Science

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/veterinary-science/articles/10.3389/fvets.2023.1204864

DOI=10.3389/fvets.2023.1204864

ISSN=2297-1769

ABSTRACT=<sec id="sec1"><title>Objective</title><p>To evaluate blood product usage in cats with hemoperitoneum. To secondarily evaluate factors associated with transfusion administration and the outcome of cats with hemoperitoneum.</p></sec><sec id="sec2"><title>Design</title><p>Retrospective study between the years 2018–2022.</p></sec><sec id="sec3"><title>Setting</title><p>University veterinary teaching hospital and private practice hospital.</p></sec><sec id="sec4"><title>Animals</title><p>33 cats admitted to the hospital diagnosed with hemoperitoneum from January 2018 to September 2022.</p></sec><sec id="sec5"><title>Measurements and main results</title><p>Medical records were retrospectively reviewed; signalment, point-of-care diagnostics, effusion characteristics, and transfusion administration information was recorded. The most common etiology associated with hemoperitoneum was neoplasia (51.5%). Fifty-one percent (51.5%) of cats received a blood transfusion during hospitalization with the majority of cats receiving multiple transfusion types (69%). The etiology of hemoperitoneum was not associated with receiving a transfusion (<italic>p</italic> = 0.28) Point-of-care diagnostics including packed cell volume (PCV), total solids (TS) and platelet count were not significantly associated with receiving a transfusion (<italic>p</italic> = 0.317, <italic>p</italic> = 0.11 and <italic>p</italic> = 0.82, respectively). The PCV and TS of the effusion was also not significantly associated with transfusions (<italic>p</italic> = 0.91 and <italic>p</italic> = 0.63, respectively). Sixteen cats (48%) survived to discharge. Transfusions were significantly associated with outcome and cats that received a transfusion were more likely to survive to discharge (<italic>p</italic> = 0.008).</p></sec><sec id="sec6"><title>Conclusion</title><p>In conclusion, hemoperitoneum from a variety of etiologies in cats is associated with a high proportion of transfusions. None of the evaluated point-of-care diagnostics were associated with transfusion administration in this study. Cats that received a transfusion were more likely to survive to discharge.</p></sec>