The Role of D-Dimer in the Diagnosis of Deep Venous Thrombosis and Pulmonary Embolism

The use of the D-dimer concentration for the exclusion of venous thromboembolism (VTE) has been evaluated circumstantially in many clinical studies and meta-analyses with different kinds of assays and tests. The sensitivity and specificity depend upon the prevalence of the VTE in the patient population and this explains the variety of results of the different studies. With a combination of studies in meta-analyses, more reliable results and conclusions can be obtained. The quantitative assays have a higher sensitivity, but a lower specificity than the qualitative tests, but no assay or test is sensitive enough for a safe exclusion of VTE.