Fibrinogen/fibrin degradation products in acute aortic dissection.

BACKGROUND

The elevated D-dimer value is one of the clues used to diagnose acute aortic dissection (AAD), but the rapid D-dimer assay is not used at all emergency hospitals. The fibrinogen/fibrin degradation products (FDP) value is also an indicator of enhanced fibrinolysis and may therefore be a useful marker in patients with AAD. In addition, the association between FDP values and partial thrombosis of the false lumen is not elucidated.

PATIENTS

The present study enrolled 50 patients (66.5±11.2 years of age; median, 66.5 years of age, male subjects comprised 60.0% of the series) with AAD who were admitted to the hospital between July 2005 and December 2007 and 57 patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI; 70.8±10.4 years of age; median, 71.0 years of age, male subjects comprised 71.9% of the current series) served as a control group.

RESULTS

The FDP values (µg/mL) in patients with AAD were significantly higher than those of AMI patients (40.2±78.6; median, 14.7 vs. 5.2±9.8; median, 1.7, p<0.001). A receiver operating characteristic curves analysis showed that an elevated FDP level (2.05 µg/mL) was predictive of a diagnosis of AAD with a sensitivity and specificity of 98% and 54%, respectively. The FDP levels of patients (n=14) who had partial thrombosis of the false lumen were significantly higher than in discharged patients without a surgical repair (n=21) who had a patent or complete thrombosis of the false lumen (35.8±43.2; median, 18.8 vs. 14.0±21.3; median, 5.5, p=0.01).

CONCLUSION

The measurement of FDP may therefore be useful for the initial assessment of patients with suspected AAD and in the prediction of thrombotic status of the false lumen.