A comparative study of Procalcitonin with C-reactive Protein, and total Leucocytes count in septic-systemic inflammatory response syndrome in dogs

Canine procalcitonin (PCT) is a novel marker which found to be increased dramatically in severe sepsis as well as c-reactive protein (CRP) and total leukocyte count are the most commonly used biomarkers of inflammation in veterinary clinical diagnosis. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic value of canine procalcitonin compared with CRP and total leucocyte count in septic-systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), differential leucocyte count and protein profile. Twenty-four (24) dogs were included in this study (14 male, 10 female), classified into a healthy control group (15 dogs) with mean age 10.66 months and septic-SIRS group (9 dogs) with mean age 9.27 months. All dogs were subjected to a complete physical examination, blood culture, total and differential leukocyte count, protein profile and estimation of serum concentration of PCT and CRP. Physical examination revealed fever, tachycardia, and tachypnea. Escherichia coli and staph. aureus were the most common isolates in blood culture. The leucogram activity revealed significant leukocytosis (p <= 0.05) associated with a significant increase in both absolute segmented and band neutrophil counts (p <= 0.05). Protein profile showed significant hypoalbuminemia (p <= 0.05). Procalcitonin level showed a highly significant increase (p <= 0.001) in comparison with CRP concentration and leucocyte count which showed a low significant increase (p <= 0.05) in the septic-SIRS group compared to the healthy group. In conclusion, procalcitonin is a superior diagnostic biomarker of inflammation in the septic-SIRS group compared with C-reactive protein and leucocyte count.