Using an age-dependent D-dimer cut-off value increases the number of older patients in whom deep vein thrombosis can be safely excluded.

ABSTRACT:

Background

D-dimer testing to rule out deep vein thrombosis is less useful in older patients because of a lower specificity. An age-adjusted D-dimer cut-off value increased the proportion of older patients (>50 years) in whom pulmonary embolism could be excluded. We retrospectively validated the efficacy of this cut-off combined with clinical probability for the exclusion of deep vein thrombosis.

Design and methods

Five management study cohorts of 2818 consecutive outpatients with suspected deep vein thrombosis were used. Patients with non-high or unlikely probability of deep vein thrombosis were included in the analysis; four different D-dimer tests were used. The proportion of patients with a normal D-dimer test and the failure rates were calculated using the conventional

SUBMITTER: Douma RA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3487551 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature