Paired Analysis of D-Dimer and Its Correlated Hemostatic Parameters in 30 Dogs with Neoplasms after Tumorectomy

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Cancer biomarkers often reflect tumor burden in canine patients; however, these substances with high clinical utility are rarely reported. Hemostatic dysfunction is usually found in patients during tumorigenesis, especially hyper-coagulability. Therefore, aberrant hemostatic parameters can serve as potential indicators for dogs with tumors. Among these assessments, D-dimer has been proposed as a tumor biomarker in human and veterinary oncology. However, research describing the clinical utility and reporting the paired analysis of D-dimer values in the same dogs still needs to be elucidated in clinical veterinary medicine. In the current study, we demonstrated that D-dimer values significantly increased in the dogs with tumors, and the values significantly decreased with the removal of primary tumors. Furthermore, this research also compared other standard hemostatic parameters and revealed that the D-dimer and several hemostatic values are correlated to tumor burden. With the urgent demand to discover valuable biomarkers in canine tumors, our findings showed that several hemostatic parameters could be applicable choices via evidence-based medicine. ABSTRACT: Previous studies have reported that dogs with neoplasms had elevated D-dimer levels. However, few studies have addressed whether D-dimer could be an indicator of tumor burden. The clinical significance of paired analysis of pre- and post-operation of D-dimer levels in dogs has rarely been described. The present study investigated the values of D-dimer levels and their correlated hemostatic alterations in dogs with surgically removable benign and malignant tumors. This study analyzed 30 clinically healthy and 30 tumor-bearing dogs and evaluated the hemostatic functions including D-dimer, thromboelastography G (TEG G), fibrinogen, activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), prothrombin time, and platelet count. The median level of pre-treatment D-dimer was 0.8 µg/mL (range: 0.1–6.3 µg/mL), whereas the control dogs exhibited a median value of 0.1 µg/mL (range: 0.1–0.1 µg/mL, p < 0.0001). After tumorectomy, the median levels of D-dimer (p < 0.0001), fibrinogen (p < 0.0001), TEG G value (p < 0.01), and aPTT (p < 0.05) were significantly lower than those of the pre-treatment samples. However, further studies are needed to clarify the values of other hemostatic evaluations. The study revealed the clinical significance of D-dimer and its correlated hemostatic parameters by paired analysis in dogs with tumors. Though more cases are needed for solid confirmation, these values could be potential tumor biomarkers for dogs.