The American Journal of Medicine
Volume 123, Issue 1 , Pages 17-19 , January 2010

Appropriate Use of D-dimer in Hospital Patients

  • Jecko Thachil, MD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Haematology, University of Liverpool, UK
    • Corresponding Author InformationRequests for reprints should be addressed to Jecko Thachil, MD, Department of Haematology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3GA, United Kingdom
    • ,
  • David A. Fitzmaurice, MD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Primary Care Clinical Sciences, Clinical Sciences Building, The University of Birmingham, UK
    • ,
  • Cheng Hock Toh, MD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Haematology, University of Liverpool, UK
    • Roald Dahl Haemostasis and Thrombosis Centre, Royal Liverpool University Hospital, UK

References 

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  3. Kearon C, Ginsberg JS, Douketis J, et al. Canadian Pulmonary Embolism Diagnosis Study (CANPEDS) Group An evaluation of D-dimer in the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism: a randomized trial. Ann Intern Med. 2006;144:812–821
  4. Righini M, Aujesky D, Roy PM, et al. Clinical usefulness of D-dimer depending on clinical probability and cut-off value in outpatients with suspected pulmonary embolism. Arch Intern Med. 2004;164:2483–2487
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  10. Taylor FB, Toh CH, Hoots WK, et al. Scientific Subcommittee on Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation (DIC) of the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH) Towards definition, clinical and laboratory criteria and a scoring system for disseminated intravascular coagulation. Thromb Haemost. 2001;86:1327–1330
  11. Levi M, Toh CH, Thachil J, Watson HG. Guidelines for the diagnosis and management of disseminated intravascular coagulation. Br J Haematol. 2009;145:24–33
  12. Toh CH, Hoots WK. The scoring system of the Scientific and Standardisation Committee on Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation of the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis: a 5-year overview (S.S.C.on Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation of the ISTH). J Thromb Haemost. 2007;5:604–606
  13. Jennings I, Woods TA, Kitchen DP, et al. Laboratory D-dimer measurement: improved agreement between methods through calibration. Thromb Haemost. 2007;98:1127–1135
  14. Legnani C, Palareti G, Cosmi B, et al. Different cut-off values of quantitative D-dimer methods to predict the risk of venous thromboembolism recurrence: a post-hoc analysis of the PROLONG study (participating centers of the Italian Federation of Anticoagulation Clinics). Haematologica. 2008;93:900–907
  15. Marill KA. Serum D-dimer is a sensitive test for the detection of acute aortic dissection: a pooled meta-analysis. J Emerg Med. 2008;34:367–376
  16. Sodeck G, Domanovits H, Schillinger M, et al. D-dimer in ruling out acute aortic dissection: a systematic review and prospective cohort study. Eur Heart J. 2007;28:3067–3075
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  18. Danesh J, Whincup P, Walker M, et al. Fibrin D-dimer and coronary heart disease: prospective study and meta-analysis. Circulation. 2001;103:2323–2327
  19. Lippi G, Filippozzi L, Montagnana M, et al. Diagnostic value of D-dimer measurement in patients referred to the emergency department with suspected myocardial ischemia. J Thromb Thrombolysis. 2008;25:247–250
  20. Weitz IC, Israel VK, Waisman JR, et al. Chemotherapy-induced activation of hemostasis: effect of a low molecular weight heparin (dalteparin sodium) on plasma markers of hemostatic activation. Thromb Haemost. 2002;88:213–220
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  22. Palareti G, Cosmi B, Legnani C, et al. D-dimer testing to determine the duration of anticoagulation therapy. N Engl J Med. 2006;355:1780–1789
  23. Verhovsek M, Douketis JD, Yi Q, et al. Systematic review: D-dimer to predict recurrent disease after stopping anticoagulant therapy for unprovoked venous thromboembolism. Ann Intern Med. 2008;149:481–490
  24. Bruinstroop E, Klok FA, van de Ree MA, et al. Elevated D-dimer levels predict recurrence in patients with idiopathic venous thromboembolism: a meta-analysis. J Thromb Haemost. 2009;7:611–618
  25. Kabrhel C, Matts C, McNamara M, et al. A highly sensitive ELISA D-dimer increases testing but not diagnosis of pulmonary embolism. Acad Emerg Med. 2006;13:519–524

 Funding: None.

 Conflict of Interest: None relevant to the article for all the authors.

 Authorship: All authors had access to the data and a role in writing the manuscript.

PII: S0002-9343(09)00864-X

doi: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2009.09.011

The American Journal of Medicine
Volume 123, Issue 1 , Pages 17-19 , January 2010

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