JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II) based on a European/North American multicenter study.
To develop and validate a new Simplified Acute Physiology Score, the SAPS II, from a large sample of surgical and medical patients, and to provide a method to convert the score to a probability of hospital mortality. ⋯ The SAPS II, based on a large international sample of patients, provides an estimate of the risk of death without having to specify a primary diagnosis. This is a starting point for future evaluation of the efficiency of intensive care units.
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Comparative Study
Quantitative plasma D-dimer levels among patients undergoing pulmonary angiography for suspected pulmonary embolism.
To test the hypothesis that a low D-dimer level has a high negative predictive value for acute pulmonary embolism (PE) among patients undergoing diagnostic pulmonary angiography. ⋯ The results of our study indicate that quantitative plasma D-dimer levels can be useful in screening patients with suspected PE who require pulmonary angiography. Plasma D-dimer values less than 500 ng/mL may obviate the need for pulmonary angiography, particularly among medical patients for whom the clinical suspicion of PE is low. The plasma D-dimer value, assayed using a commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit, is a sensitive but nonspecific test for the presence of acute PE.