Services on Demand
Journal
Article
Portuguese (pdf)
Article in xml format
Article references
Automatic translation
Send this article by e-mailIndicators
Cited by SciELO 
Access statistics
Related links
Similars in
SciELO
Share
Permalink
Medicina Interna
Print version ISSN 0872-671X
Abstract
GREENFIELD, Helena; SOUSA, Sílvia and GUEDES, Carolina. D-Dimer in Venous Thromboembolism Diagnosis in The Emergency Department. Medicina Interna [online]. 2021, vol.28, n.1, pp.21-27. Epub Mar 15, 2021. ISSN 0872-671X. https://doi.org/10.24950/o/245/20/1/2021.
:
Venous thromboembolism (VTE) refers to deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE). D-dimer dosing has sensitivity of over 95% and high negative predictive value for the diagnosis of VTE. Our goal was to analyse every Emergency Department episode in which D-dimer dosing was performed. The variables analysed were: presence or absence of clinical symptoms suggestive of VTE, the suitability of D-dimer request according to pre-test probability scores, performance of computed tomography angiography (angio-CT) if D-dimer elevation and number of confirmed VTE.
Methods:
We performed a retrospectively analysis of all cases of patients over 18 years of age in whom D-Dimer dosing was performed in our Emergency Department from the 1st of July to the 31st of December of 2017.
Results:
589 episodes were included in our analysis. Female gender represented 61% (n = 361) and median age was 62 ± 19 years-old. We documented 110 episodes with D-dimer dosing without any suggestive symptoms of VTE. In four patients with high pre-test probability D-dimer was inadequately performed. D-dimer elevation was observed in 55,5% (327/589) of all episodes, but only 28,1% were submitted to angio-CT. Total VTE confirmed was 27 (4,6%).
Discussion and Conclusion:
Our results are according to the literature. We report 3 main diagnostic errors: D-dimer dosing in patients without symptoms of VTE; D-dimer dosing in high probability patients; and patients with elevated D-dimer who do not do angio-CT. This study enlightens the prejudice of excessive and inadequate exams in the diagnosis of VTE.
Keywords : Emergency Service, Hospital; Fibrin and Fibrinogen Degradation Products; Venous Thromboembolism.
