Alteration of Serum Cystatin-C Levels after Hemodialysis in Dogs with Kidney Disease

Kidney diseases are common life-threatening diseases in small animals. To evaluate the efficiency of hemodialysis in kidney disease treatment, several low-molecular-weight biochemical markers can be assessed. Recently, middle-molecular-weight proteins such as cystatin-C have been investigated for use as alternative biomarkers to evaluate renal function and predict mortality, especially in human hemodialysis patients. The goal of this study is to assess changes in cystatin-C levels when performing low-flux hemodialysis with an ultraflux dialyzer in dogs with kidney disease. This was a retrospective study. A total of twenty hemodialysis sessions were included in the study. The concentrations of cystatin-C level before and after hemodialysis were determined by examining ELISA results. The cystatin-C concentration was significantly lower after hemodialysis than before hemodialysis (P=0.0016). Cystatin-C can be removed by using low-flux hemodialysis. Thus, cystatin-C can be considered a potential kidney function biomarker in dogs with kidney disease being treated with low-flux intermittent hemodialysis. (C) 2020 PVJ. All rights reserved