Document Detail


Diagnostic management of pulmonary embolism using clinical assessment, plasma D-dimer assay, complete lower limb venous ultrasound and helical computed tomography of pulmonary arteries. A multicentre clinical outcome study.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  15886818     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
The objective of the study was to assess the clinical validity of a non-invasive diagnostic strategy for acute pulmonary embolism using clinical assessment combined with both ELISA D-dimer and complete lower limb ultrasound (US) examination of proximal and distal veins, before single-detector helical computed tomography (CT) of pulmonary arteries. We expected the strategy to have a high diagnostic exclusion power and to safely decrease the number of CT scans. This prospective, multicenter outcome study included 274 consecutive outpatients. All underwent a priori clinical probability, D-dimer and bilateral complete lower limb US assessments. Only patients with a high clinical probability and both tests negative, or positive D-dimer and negative US assessments, underwent CT. This was deemed necessary in 114 patients (42%). At baseline, venous thromboembolism (VTE) was detected in 110 patients (40%), either by US showing proximal (n=65) or distal (n=36) thrombosis, or by CT (n=9). Anticoagulant was withheld in the remaining patients with negative results in both D-dimer and US but a non-high clinical probability (n=59), or in both US and CT (n=90), or with negative US (n=6) and inadequate CT (n=9). All patients underwent a three-month clinical follow-up. VTE occurred in one patient with inadequate CT, yielding an incidence of 0.6% [95% confidence interval: 0.1-3.4]. No patient died from VTE or had major bleeding. Using clinical probability, ELISA D-dimer and complete US before helical CT is a safe strategy resulting in a substantial reduction in CT scans.
Authors:
Antoine Elias; Alain Cazanave; Marie Elias; Valérie Chabbert; Henri Juchet; Hélène Paradis; Philippe Carrière; Françoise Nguyen; Alain Didier; Michel Galinier; Cyrille Colin; Dominique Lauque; Francis Joffre; Hervé Rousseau
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article; Multicenter Study; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Thrombosis and haemostasis     Volume:  93     ISSN:  0340-6245     ISO Abbreviation:  Thromb. Haemost.     Publication Date:  2005 May 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2005-05-11     Completed Date:  2005-08-19     Revised Date:  2006-11-15    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  7608063     Medline TA:  Thromb Haemost     Country:  Germany    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  982-8     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Department of Vascular Medicine, Rangueil University Hospital Centre, Toulouse, France. elias.a@chu-toulouse.fr
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Anticoagulants / therapeutic use
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
Female
Fibrin Fibrinogen Degradation Products / biosynthesis*
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Lower Extremity / blood supply
Male
Middle Aged
Prospective Studies
Pulmonary Artery / pathology*
Pulmonary Embolism / blood*,  diagnosis*
Reproducibility of Results
Thromboembolism / diagnosis
Thrombosis / diagnosis
Time Factors
Tomography, Spiral Computed / methods*
Treatment Outcome
Veins / ultrasonography*
Venous Thrombosis / diagnosis
Chemical
Reg. No./Substance:
0/Anticoagulants; 0/Fibrin Fibrinogen Degradation Products; 0/fibrin fragment D

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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