Hematologic Changes in Hypothermic Dogs

Abstract

Summary

In 9 hypothermic dogs cooled below 20°C the following hematologic changes occurred: 1. Red cell count, hemoglobin concentration and hematocrit rose. 2. White cells of all types nearly disappeared. 3. Platelets nearly disappeared. With the thrombocytopenia the dogs developed prolonged silicone clotting times, loss of clot retraction, poor prothrombin consumption and prolonged bleeding time. 4. During the early warming period the platelets and white cells returned to normal. The clotting studies also returned to normal except the silicone clotting time and the bleeding time which showed evidence of hyper-coagulability. 5. The red count returned to normal somewhat more slowly. During the early warming period nucleated red cells appeared in the peripheral blood.