Dunn I D, Hui A C, Triffitt P D, Crozier A E, Gregg P J, Sinclair M E, Armstrong A L, Mitchell V E
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Glenfield General Hospital, Leicester, UK.
Thromb Haemost. 1994 Nov;72(5):663-5.
Plasma levels of D-dimer have been found useful as a marker of deep venous thrombosis in those patients in whom thrombosis is suspected, but their usefulness in postoperative screening is less clear. We have investigated the relationship of D-dimer to deep venous thrombosis in 90 patients after total hip and knee arthroplasty. From the first postoperative day the D-dimer levels were found to be highly significantly raised in patients with deep venous thrombosis. A combined result over the first six postoperative days in excess of 1200 ng/ml correlated with thrombosis with a specificity of 100%, sensitivity of 45%, positive predictive value of 60%, and negative predictive value of 100%. However, individual estimations were not discriminatory.
