Evaluation of Hyperlipasemia and Clinical Signs in 106 Dogs After Hospitalization for Acute Pancreatitis: Results From a Combined Retrospective and Prospective Follow‐Up Study

ABSTRACT Background No data after hospitalization for acute pancreatitis (AP) in dogs comparing clinical signs to lipase results exists. Objectives Evaluate disease severity, lipase activity, and pancreatic lipase immunoreactivity (PLI) after hospitalization for suspected AP. Animals One hundred and six client‐owned dogs with a minimum of one re‐check 2 weeks after hospitalization for AP. Methods Combined retrospective and prospective study. Clinical signs graded using a clinical disease activity score (CDAS = CIBDAI complemented by abdominal pain) were compared to DGGR‐lipase activity (LIPC Roche) and PLI (SpecPL) at 2 weeks (t2, n = 106) after discharge. Additional re‐checks were available 6 weeks (t3, n = 56), 12 weeks (t4, n = 24), and 24 weeks (t5, n = 13) after discharge. Results Lipase activity and PLI correlated strongly at all time points (rs 0.863–0.937, p < 0.0001). Discordant results in regard to published reference intervals (RI) were rare (2.8% at t2, 1.7% at t3, 4.2% at t4, 0% at t5) and seemed clinically irrelevant. Dogs with still elevated lipase activity and PLI at t2 (24/106.22.6%) and t3 (21/56.37.5%) were significantly older compared to dogs with lipase within RI. Weak and moderate correlation between CDAS and lipase activity/PLI was found only at t2 (rs 0.391, p = 0.0009; rs 0.279, p = 0.004) and t5 (rs 0.603, p = 0.032; rs 0.57 p = 0.045). Most dogs (79.2%) with still elevated lipase at t2 had no or minimal clinical signs (CDAS 0–3). The same applied to all later re‐checks. Conclusion and Clinical Importance Both lipase assays did not differ when compared to clinical status. Most dogs with hyperlipasemia after hospitalization for AP have no or minimal clinical signs.