Age-adjusted D-dimer Cut-off to Rule Out Pulmonary Embolism in the Emergency Department : A Real Life Impact Study

A multicentre multinational prospective management outcome study has recently proven the safety of a diagnostic strategy combining clinical probability assessment with an age-adjusted D-dimer cut-off, defined as a value of (age x 10) in patients \> 50 years, for ruling out PE in outpatients, with a very low likelihood of subsequent symptomatic VTE. Moreover, this study showed that such a strategy increased the diagnostic yield of D-dimers, as it allowed ruling out PE without further investigation in a significantly higher proportion of patients than when using standard cut-off, particularly so in patients 75 years or older. The objective of the present study is to confirm in a prospective cohort of "real life" patients the usefulness of the age-adjusted D-dimer cut-off to rule out PE in patients presenting to the emergency department with suspected PE.