Antithrombin III activity in horses with colic: an analysis of 46 cases

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Abstract
Antithrombin‐III (AT‐III) activity was measured at the time of admission in 46 horses referred with colic. Differences in AT‐III activities between animals treated medically or surgically and survivors or non‐survivors were compared. The mean AT‐III values for the horses treated medically (76.2 per cent), surgical survivors (69.5 per cent) and surgical non‐survivors (55.9 per cent) were significantly different from the reference value for healthy adults (92 to 108 per cent). The mean AT‐III activity of the survivors was significantly (P<0.01) greater than that of the non‐survivors. The majority of the survivors (11 of 13 horses) had AT‐III activities exceeding 60 per cent of normal, whereas that of 10 of the 14 non‐survivors was less than 60 per cent of normal. There was an apparent distinction between the survivors and non‐survivors at approximately 60 per cent of normal AT‐III activity.