Benefit of clinical and laboratory parameters for the diagnosis of endometritis in dairy cows

The goal of this work was to answer the question of whether or not there are significant differences between cows with abnormal vaginal discharge and cows with the diagnosis of puerperal or chronical endometritis, using blood and urine parameters. In addition, cows with and without vaginal discharge were examined for significant bacteriological differences in uterine mucous samples. The question of false positive and false negatives from the diagnosis of endometritis was also investigated. A total of 35 matched-pairs ( vaginal discharge) from 27 stables was examined 21 to 63 days post partum. The examination consisted of a rectal and vaginal exam, urine and blood samplesas well as vaginal swab from the corpus uteri using a Folmer-Nielsen-Catheter. Based on the history vaginal discharge occurred more frequently in dystocia and retentio secundinarium. Cows with a history of distocia and retentio secundinarium showed significantly more vaginal discharge. Gammaglutamyltransferase (GGT; p = 0.01) and cholesterine (p = 0.04) were different in cows with endometritis. The bacteriology results showed a statistically significant difference (p < 0.01) only for Escherichia coli and Arcanobacterium pyogenes. The Folmer-Nielsen smears/endometritis showed a significant difference between the two groups (p < 0.01). In a multivariate analysis with final step-back procedure regarding endometritis Gammaglutamyltransferase (GGT) and Betahydroxybutteracid (BHB) were significant different (p = 0.02). The hypothesis vaginal discharge alike endometritis showed that 34% of the clinical suspicious cases were recorded as false negatives. In the non-suspicious cases 20% were diagnosed as false negative.