Association of preoperative anemia on perioperative complications and short-term outcomes in cats undergoing subcutaneous ureteral bypass.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the link between preoperative anemia and perioperative complications in cats undergoing general anesthesia for subcutaneous ureteral bypass (SUB) and examine whether preoperative anemia is associated with poor outcome.

METHODS

This retrospective study used data records of cats presenting to the Queen Mother Hospital for Animals requiring SUB system implantation. Anemia was defined as a PCV < 25%. Signalment, blood samples, perioperative data, and short-term outcomes were compared between anemic and nonanemic groups.

RESULTS

196 cats were included; 28.6% (n = 56) presented anemic. Anemic patients were more likely to be hypotensive perioperatively compared with nonanemic patients. Nonanemic cases were significantly more likely to demonstrate a greater reduction in creatinine following SUB placement (median, 73.0% reduction vs anemic cases, 56.6%; OR, 0.4146; 95% CI, 0.1835% to 0.8929%). Patients presenting with anemia were significantly older than patients presenting without anemia (95% CI, -2.411% to -0.2965%). There was no significant difference in survival to discharge (OR, 0.7106; 95% CI, 0.2421% to 2.033%) or 30-day survival between anemic and nonanemic groups (OR, 0.5798; 95% CI, 0.2446% to 1.396%).

CONCLUSIONS

Anemic cats presenting with ureteric obstruction are at an increased risk of perioperative hypotension and less likely to have a reduction in creatinine at discharge. There was no difference in survival between groups.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Anemia occurs commonly in cats with ureteric obstructions and is a preoperative factor shown to require careful management during the peri- and postoperative periods, increasing complications and reducing the normalization of creatinine.