Paucis Verbis: D-Dimer test

D-Dimer: To order or not to order?

That’s the question when it comes to risk stratifying a patient for a pulmonary embolism with a low pretest probability. One should consider confounding conditions which may cause an elevated D-Dimer level. There’s always confusion about what may cause an elevated D-Dimer besides venous thromboemboli. So I thought I would make a pocket card as a reminder.

PV Card: D-Dimer Test

Adapted from [1]
Go to ALiEM (PV) Cards for more resources.

Reference

1. Wakai A, Gleeson A, Winter D. Role of fibrin D-dimer testing in emergency medicine. Emerg Med J. 2003;20(4):319-325. [PubMed]

Author information

Michelle Lin, MD

ALiEM Founder and CEO
Professor and Digital Innovation Lab Director
Department of Emergency Medicine
University of California, San Francisco

| Twitter | Facebook | Google+ |

The post Paucis Verbis: D-Dimer test appeared first on ALiEM.