PulmCCM - December 13, 2019 - By Salynn Boyles
..."Kearon and colleagues' Pulmonary Embolism Graduated D-Dimer (PEGeD) study included 2,107 patients assessed for pulmonary embolism risk in the outpatient (emergency department or outpatient clinic) setting. Pulmonary embolism was considered to be ruled out in patients with a low C-PTP (using the Wells score) and a D-dimer of less than 1,000 ng/mL or with a moderate C-PTP and a D-dimer of less than 500 ng/mL.
Chest CT imaging was performed in patients who did not meet these thresholds, and patients without a diagnosis of pulmonary embolism did not receive anticoagulant therapy. Patients were followed for 3 months after initial assessment.
A total of 7.4% of evaluated patients had pulmonary embolisms on initial diagnostic testing.
Among the 1,863 patients who did not receive a diagnosis of pulmonary embolism at first assessment and did not receive anticoagulant therapy, one patient had a venous thromboembolism (0.05%, 95% CI 0.01-0.30)..."