Douma et al used an age-adjusted D-dimer cut-off for the exclusion of pulmonary embolism in older adults. This can reduce unnecessary testing in these patients. The authors are from Academic Medical Center Amsterdam, Brest University Hospital, University of Geneva, Erasmus Medical Centre and the University of Angers.
Patient selection: rule out pulmonary embolism in adult > 50 years old
Test: plasma D-dimer by ELISA (VIDAS, Biomerieux); Tinaquant (Roche Diagnostics)
Age
D-Dimer Cut-off
< 50 years
< 512 µg/L
> 80 years
< 934 µg/L
Calculating the cut-off for an adult 50 to 80 years of age:
Method 1 (simple rule): cut-off = (age) * 10
Method 2 (paper): cut-off = 11.2 * (age)
Method 3 (line between 50 and 80 cutoffs): cut-off = (14.067 * (age)) -191.333
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