Prevalence of AO blood group and level of agreement for AO blood-typing methods in pet pigs from Louisiana

OBJECTIVES

Pet pigs are a species of growing medical interest, and evidence-based practices for blood transfusions are needed. The objectives of this study were to quantify the prevalence of 3 blood group (Bg) phenotypes ("A" and "Aweak " resulting from EAAAA and EAAAO , "0" from EAA00 , or "-" from EAA00 or SSS alleles) in pet pigs and compare results using a human blood-typing card (EldonCard), standard saline agglutination (SSA), and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) sequencing.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional study.

SETTING

University veterinary teaching hospital.

ANIMALS

Ninety-seven pet pigs from Louisiana.

INTERVENTIONS

Blood was sampled from randomly selected pet pigs of various breeds, anticoagulated with EDTA, and typed using each investigated test according to the manufacturers' directions or standard laboratory technique. Samples for PCR analysis were stored at -80°C until analysis. Phenotypes were screened via EldonCard. Association between Bg and sex was investigated using chi-square test, with significance at P < 0.05. Kappa (κ) statistic was used to measure the level of agreement between the 3 tests.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

Pot-bellied pigs represented the majority (84.5%) of this population, with 52 (53.6%) males and 45 (46.4%) females. Genotypic frequencies were 30%, 30%, and 40% for "EAAAA ," "EAAAO ," and "EAA00 ," respectively. Based on EldonCard, 38 phenotypes were classified as "A," 5 as "Aweak ," and 54 as "0" or "-." Results were identical for Bg, with the 3 tested techniques in 90% (45/50) of samples. Agreement between EldonCard and PCR was almost perfect (49/50 [98%], κ = 0.959; P < 0.001). Agreement between SSA and PCR, and EldonCard and SSA was substantial (46/50 [92%], κ = 0.803, P < 0.001 and 93/97 [95.9%], κ = 0.764, P < 0.001, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS

The most common blood type was "0" or "-" (55.7%), followed by "A" (39.2%) and "Aweak " (5.1%). There was strong agreement between EldonCard and PCR testing. EldonCard allowed for rapid and reliable phenotype identification ("A," "Aweak ," and "0" or "-") and represents a clinically applicable laboratory method for blood typing in pet pigs.

Surgical treatment of uterine neoplasia in 13 production size pigs with a comparison to pot-bellied pigs

OBJECTIVES

The primary objective of this study was to describe the clinical management and surgical treatment of production size pigs (PrdP) with uterine neoplasia. A secondary objective was to compare tumor diagnoses as well as short- and long-term survival between PrdP and a published report of pot-bellied pigs (PBP) following surgical intervention.

STUDY DESIGN

Retrospective clinical study.

ANIMALS OR SAMPLE POPULATION

Client-owned PrdP (n = 13) treated with exploratory celiotomy ±ovariohysterectomy for uterine neoplasia.

METHODS

Medical records from a university hospital were reviewed for historical treatment, presenting complaint, clinical signs, diagnostics, surgical intervention, pathology, and outcome. An online owner survey was performed for follow-up. The novel PrdP cohort was compared to a previously published PBP cohort for differences in tumor diagnoses, surgical complications, and survival. Descriptive statistics, Fischer's exact tests and odds ratios were reported.

RESULTS

PrdP were affected by uterine leiomyoma (4/11), leiomyosarcoma (2/11), adenoma (1/11), adenocarcinoma (3/11), and carcinosarcoma (1/11) with no difference in tumor types between PrdP and PBP. PrdP surviving to hospital discharge (6/13) survived at least 1 year postoperatively, with median follow-up of 16 months (14-60 months). PrdP were less likely than PBP to survive in the short-term despite similar frequencies of marked intraoperative hemorrhage. PrdP and PBP had comparable rates of long-term survival following hospital discharge.

CONCLUSION

PrdP are afflicted by similar uterine neoplasia diagnoses as PBP, but they have lower rates of short-term survival to hospital discharge with surgical treatment.

CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE/IMPACT

PrdP have a guarded prognosis for survival to hospital discharge when operated for uterine neoplasia.

Pot-bellied pig neoplasia

The current report summarizes the incidence and variety of neoplasms in pot-bellied pigs as documented by the pathology group at the University of Tennessee, College of Veterinary Medicine (UTCVM) between 2004 and 2011. Sixty-three pot-bellied pig cases (53 necropsies and 10 surgical biopsies) were identified from the UTCVM case database. Of these, 22 cases from 21 patients (34.9%) were given a diagnosis of neoplasia, including 10 females, 3 spayed females, 2 males, and 7 neutered males. The mean age of affected animals was 11.3 years. The incidence of neoplasia among the necropsy cases was 28% (15/53), and in the surgical biopsy material, the incidence was 70% (7/10). Reproductive and gastrointestinal tissues were most commonly affected, and malignancies were frequently identified, with hepatic and intestinal carcinomas predominating. Multiple neoplasms were often identified in patients submitted for necropsy, and in 4 out of 11 of the necropsy cases, at least 1 of the neoplasms was a malignancy. Six necropsy cases revealed metastatic spread.