Research in the field of acute kidney injury and excreted urinary fractions.
The first part focuses on the analysis of data from a series of dogs with leptospirosis, two groups of dogs were compared, the first with AKI from leptospirosis and the other with AKI for different etiologies. In these two populations we evaluated some serum and urinary analytes such as fractional electrolyte excretion and biomarker of AKI such as NGAL. Dogs with leptospirosis showed greater kaliuresis and more severe glycosuria than those without leptospirosis, as well as were more frequently glycosuric than the others. These data are in analogy with what is reported in humans and demonstrate a typical tubular damage pattern in the course of this disease when compared to other causes of acute tubular damage and AKI.
The second part concerns the evaluation of renal function and AKI in dogs with mitral valve insufficiency. It focused on renal damage in the course of heart disease and for this reason we decided to exclusively evaluate patients with MVD for various reasons: they are patients who frequently present themselves in clinical practice; the disease is typically chronic and the patient remains stable for a long time with a progressive course of the disease; these patients may present with frequent episodes of AKI related to heart failure and / or to the 3 / or ace-i diuretic therapy these animals receive. We prospectively evaluated the impact of oral furosemide therapy on urinary chemistry in dogs with myxomatous mitral valve disease. These differences have been attributed to the effect of furosemide therapy on renal electrolytes. Urinary chemistry is useful for estimating the diuretic response in dogs with heart disease.
The data suggest significant differences between the different ACVIM stages with particular reference to the electrolytic excretion of Sodium, Potassium and Chlorine.