BACKGROUND: Cranial cruciate ligament rupture is a prevalent injury in dogs, and tibial plateau leveling osteotomy (TPLO) is one of the preferred surgical techniques. Surgical site infection is a possible complication following TPLO and measurement of serum acute phase proteins is suggested to be a way to early recognize and distinguish postoperative infectious complications from normal postoperative inflammatory conditions. In this study we investigate the changes in concentrations of the systemic inflammatory markers C-reactive protein (CRP) and serum amyloid A (SAA) following tibial plateau leveling osteotomy (TPLO) in dogs and evaluate if deviations from the changes expectedly induced by the surgical procedure are useful in early detection of post-surgical infections. Dogs with cranial cruciate ligament injuries treated by TPLO at the Region Animal Hospital of Helsingborg during 2012 were included. Dogs with concurrent diseases, other orthopedic problems, or noninfectious post-surgical complications were excluded. Serial measurements of CRP and SAA concentrations were made. Changes in concentrations were visualized graphically and the discriminative capacity to detect infectious post-surgical complications was tested at different time points.

RESULTS: A characteristic pattern of changes in concentrations of CRP and SAA were observed following TPLO with a significant increase 24 h post-surgery in all dogs and baseline-concentrations re-established at day 12. In dogs that developed post-surgical infections, a deviation in form of significantly higher concentrations of CRP and SAA were observed at day 6, compared to un-complicated cases. High-discriminative clinical decision limits of CRP (43.9 mg/L) and SAA (63.8 mg/L) could be established for differentiation of dogs with and without clinical signs of infectious complications at day 6 post-operatively, applicable to reliably rule out presence of infectious complications due to very high sensitivity (no false negatives).

CONCLUSIONS: The CRP and SAA levels in dogs with clinical signs of post-surgical infectious complication deviated from the typical levels expected at day 6 after surgery, and clinical decision limits to reliably rule out presence of infectious complications was suggested.