Clinical Imaging
Volume 34, Issue 3 , Pages 179-184, May 2010

Can plasma D-dimer predict the result of a ventilation–perfusion scan?

  • Thomas Grüning

      Affiliations

    • Department of Nuclear Medicine, Derriford Hospital, Plymouth, UK
    • Peninsula Medical School, Universities of Exeter and Plymouth, UK
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Department of Nuclear Medicine, Derriford Hospital, Plymouth PL6 8DH, UK. Tel.: +44 1752 792280; fax: +44 1752 783144.
    • ,
  • Mehrdad Khonsari

      Affiliations

    • Department of Nuclear Medicine, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals, UK
    • ,
  • Gillian C. Vivian

      Affiliations

    • Department of Nuclear Medicine, Derriford Hospital, Plymouth, UK
    • ,
  • Tim Nokes

      Affiliations

    • Department of Hematology, Derriford Hospital, Plymouth, UK

Received 25 January 2009; accepted 22 May 2009. published online 10 July 2009.

Abstract 

The use of plasma D-dimer assay has been advocated for the exclusion of pulmonary embolism. We retrospectively looked at 840 patients in whom both ventilation–perfusion scan and D-dimer assay were performed within 48 h. The negative predictive value of a negative D-dimer assay was 96% for emergency admissions and 98% for inpatients. We present the cases of two patients with negative D-dimer assay results who had a high-probability lung scan, and we have found a further three patients with negative D-dimer assay results who had an intermediate-probability lung scan.

Keywords: Fibrin fragment D, Ventilation–perfusion scan, Pulmonary embolism

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PII: S0899-7071(09)00113-2

doi:10.1016/j.clinimag.2009.05.002

Clinical Imaging
Volume 34, Issue 3 , Pages 179-184, May 2010

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