Benefit of using an age-adjusted D-dimer cut-off

Introduction: The association between a low-moderate pretest clinical probability and a negative D-dimer (DD) value is able to exclude the possibility of pulmonary embolism (PE). The value of DD seems to increase with age, reducing its specificity. Therefore, we intend to evaluate the usefulness of an age-adjusted cut-off value for age above 50 years, applying the formula suggested by Douma (age*10) set to our laboratory method (age*5) (1) . Patients and Methods: Observational, retrospective study from January to December 2011. DD test were performed to 1515 patients attended in the emergency room of our hospital according to the clinical suspicion made by the doctor who evaluated them. The…