Clinical Utility of D-dimer in Patients With Suspected Pulmonary Embolism and Nondiagnostic Lung Scans or Negative CT Findings

摘要

BackgroundThe diagnosis of pulmonary embolism is difficult because the clinical diagnosis is nonspecific and all of the objective tests have limitations. The assay for plasma d-dimer may be useful as an exclusion test if results are negative. We conducted a prospective cohort study that evaluated the clinical utility (usefulness) of an automated quantitative d-dimer test in the diagnosis of patients with suspected pulmonary embolism.