Dr. Center developed the bile acids test and did all the research. This is from her seminar handout:
Page 5:
"Cutoff range considered abnormal: we determined an appropriate cutoff value to discriminate normal dogs from abnormal dogs based on review of hundreds of bile acid values in dogs with biopsy confirmed normal or abnormal liver status."
This means that they took large samples of dogs with both normal and abnormal bile acid values. Then they took liver biopsies to see if the bile acid numbers matched pathology vs. no pathology of the liver.
"...we set the cutoff value to discriminate normal and abnormal >/= 25 uMol/L. We then tested this against a large population of dogs examined by liver biopsy to be sure that this value did not generate in false positive tests (dogs that had no liver abnormality yet still had abnormal test results)."
In other words, they specifically tested for false positive.
Liver compromised dogs can have normal blood panel results. I've seen that with two puppies in the last year on the Maltese forum I belong to. Both had cbc's done before going home at twelve weeks and ALT, BUN, etc. were normal. A few months later both were BAT tested and had abnormal results. Both had Protein C tests which were normal and were diagnosed with asymptomatic MVD. |