A prospective cohort study to identify clinical diagnostic and prognostic markers of primary immune thrombocytopenia in dogs.

Background: Primary immune thrombocytopenia (pITP) in dogs presents a diagnostic challenge, and clinical markers of severity are lacking.

Objectives: Identify clinicopathologic features that differentiate pITP from secondary ITP (sITP) and markers related to bleeding severity, transfusion, and survival of dogs with pITP.

Animals: Ninety-eight thrombocytopenic dogs (58 pITP and 40 sITP).

Preliminary evaluation of a flow cytometric assay with microsphere controls for the detection of platelet-bound antibodies in canine immune thrombocytopenia.

Background: Canine immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) ranges from a mild to severe bleeding disorder, and platelet counts do not reliably predict clinical disease course. The detection of platelet autoantibodies may further define the disease phenotype, but variability in assay configurations and a lack of well-characterized controls limit the diagnostic utility of anti-platelet antibody assays.

Objectives: We aimed to develop control reagents to facilitate the characterization of canine platelet surface-associated immunoglobulin (PSAIg) in flow cytometric assays.