Investigation of the therapeutic effects, predictors, and complications of long-term immunosuppressive therapy in dogs with precursor-targeted immune-mediated anemia

• Published in: Journal of Veterinary Medical Science Vol. 85; no. 7; pp. 695 - 701
• Main Authors: SUGAWARA-SUDA, Mei, MORISHITA, Keitaro, IWANAGA, Yuto, YAMAZAKI, Jumpei, KAGAWA, Yumiko, YOKOYAMA, Nozomu, SASAKI, Noboru, OHTA, Hiroshi, NAKAMURA, Kensuke, TAKIGUCHI, Mitsuyoshi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Japan JAPANESE SOCIETY OF VETERINARY SCIENCE 01.07.2023; Japan Science and Technology Agency; The Japanese Society of Veterinary Science
• Subjects: Abscesses; Anemia; Anemia - veterinary; Animals; canine; Comorbidity; Dog Diseases - drug therapy; Dogs; erythroid-maturation ratio; Immunosuppression Therapy - veterinary; Immunosuppressive agents; Immunosuppressive Agents - therapeutic use; immunosuppressive therapy; Internal Medicine; Investigations; non-regenerative immune-mediated anemia; Pancreatitis; Potassium Iodide - therapeutic use; Retrospective Studies; immunosuppressive therapy; non-regenerative immune-mediated anemia; erythroid-maturation ratio; canine
• ISSN: 0916-7250; 1347-7439; 1347-7439
• DOI: 10.1292/jvms.23-0010

Dogs with precursor-targeted immune-mediated anemia (PIMA) are commonly treated with immunosuppressive therapy, but information on predictors of treatment response and response time is limited. Therefore, we retrospectively investigated predictive factors that influenced the treatment response and duration required to observe a response in dogs with PIMA receiving continuous immunosuppressive therapies for more than 105 days. Of 50 client-owned dogs that developed PIMA, 27 were included in this study, of which 18 were responders and 9 were non-responders to immunosuppressive therapies. Sixteen of the 18 responders responded to treatment within 60 days and the remaining 2 responded at 93 and 126 days, respectively. We found that an erythroid-maturation ratio of <0.17 may be a useful predictor for treatment response. In addition, complications of immunosuppressive therapies were investigated further in 50 dogs. Pancreatitis (n=4) and pneumonia (3) occurred over the entire treatment period, and infections such as abscesses (3) tended to be more common in dogs on an extended period of immunosuppressive therapy. These findings may be helpful when planning for the initial treatment and may provide evidence for informed consent about potential comorbidities throughout the treatment course.