RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 BET 2: Current evidence does support the use of a negative D-dimer to rule out suspected pulmonary embolism in pregnancy
JF Emergency Medicine Journal
JO Emerg Med J
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and the British Association for Accident & Emergency Medicine
SP 946
OP 947
DO 10.1136/emermed-2014-204290.2
VO 31
IS 11
YR 2014
UL http://emj.bmj.com/content/31/11/946.abstract
AB A short cut review was carried out to establish whether a negative D-dimer could be used to rule out pulmonary embolism in the presence of clinical suspicion in a pregnant patient. Five studies were considered directly relevant to the clinical question. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes and study weaknesses were tabulated. The clinical bottom line was that a negative D-dimer result was considered sensitive enough to rule out pulmonary embolism in patients who were in the first two trimesters of pregnancy but that the false positive rate was so high as to render the test useless in patients in the third trimester if standard cut-off values were used.