British journal of haematology
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Comparative Study
A comparison of three rapid D-dimer methods for the diagnosis of venous thromboembolism.
We compared three rapid D-dimer methods for the diagnosis of venous thromboembolism. Patients presenting to four teaching hospitals with the possible diagnosis of deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism were investigated with a combination of clinical likelihood, D-dimer (SimpliRED) and initial non-invasive testing. Patients were assigned as being positive or negative for deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism based on their three-month outcome and initial test results. ⋯ All three D-dimer tests gave similar negative predictive values. The SimpliRED D-dimer was found to be less sensitive than the Accuclot or IL-Test. When combined with pre-test probability all three methods are probably acceptable for use in the diagnosis of venous thromboembolism.