Pancreatitis in dogs is a fairly common condition seen in veterinary practice and it can be a severe disease process in some of our patients. Reported mortality rates in dogs range between 27%-58% - and this likely reflects the more severely affected - patients that wind up in the care of a referral or specialty care center. In contrast, the condition has a reported mortality rate of 5-15% in affected humans.
Treatment of our veterinary patients is not always evidence based. In fact, many of our therapies are extrapolated from managing physiologic or "first principles," or based on findings from experimental studies performed in other species.
A paper recently reviewed the levels of evidence for our management of acute pancreatitis in dogs. This is the subject of my recent Evidence Based Update (available for On Demand viewing - Approved for 0.25 hour of CE credit by NY State and the NJVMA; pending approval by AAVSB RACE).
Management of acute pancreatitis in dogs: a critical appraisal with focus on feeding and analgesia. Journal of the BSAVA, Vol 246(3), Feb 1, 2015, pp 327-335.
Preview the discussion on this topic below. More in VetVine on #Pancreatitis.
