Serum C‐reactive protein concentrations in dogs with structural and idiopathic epilepsy

Background C‐reactive protein (CRP) is an acute‐phase protein produced by the liver during systemic inflammation. In humans, some epilepsies are associated with increased serum CRP (sCRP) concentrations, but this has yet to be proven in veterinary studies. Dogs with structural epilepsy (SE) and normal interictal neurological examination are hard to distinguish from dogs with idiopathic epilepsy (IE) without the use of advanced imaging. Methods The study included eight dogs with SE and 12 dogs with IE from a referral hospital population. This was a retrospective observational cohort study. The Mann–Whitney test was used to compare the sCRP concentrations within 24 hours of the last epileptic seizure between dogs with SE or IE. Results Dogs with SE had higher sCRP concentrations than dogs with IE (8.9 [range