Towards evidence based emergency medicine: best BETs from the Manchester Royal Infirmary. IL D-dimer test in the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism.

A short cut review was carried out to establish whether a negative IL D-dimer test alone could be used to rule out a diagnosis of pulmonary embolus. Six papers were found using the reported search, of which four presented the best evidence to answer the clinical question. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results and study weaknesses of these best papers are tabulated. A clinical bottom line is stated.