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Updated: Jun 13, 2026

A Multicenter MRI Protocol for the Evaluation and Quantification of Deep Vein Thrombosis
Published on: June 2, 2015
Can plasma D-dimer predict the result of a ventilation-perfusion scan?
Thomas Grüning1, Mehrdad Khonsari, Gillian C Vivian
1Department of Nuclear Medicine, Derriford Hospital, Plymouth, UK. thomas.gruning@phnt.swest.nhs.uk <thomas.gruning@phnt.swest.nhs.uk>
Abstract:
The use of plasma D-dimer assay has been advocated for the exclusion of pulmonary embolism. We retrospectively looked at 840 patients in whom both ventilation-perfusion scan and D-dimer assay were performed within 48 h. The negative predictive value of a negative D-dimer assay was 96% for emergency admissions and 98% for inpatients. We present the cases of two patients with negative D-dimer assay results who had a high-probability lung scan, and we have found a further three patients with negative D-dimer assay results who had an intermediate-probability lung scan.
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