Association between site of thrombus detected and thrombotic property in patients with venous thromboembolism and D-dimer

Abstract

Background—Pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) and deep vein thrombosis (DVT) are generally associated with VTE. The plasma D-dimer has been used for the exclusive diagnosis of DVT, but little is known about its clinical significance in the association between the site of thrombus detected by lower limb vein sonography and the thrombotic property in VTE patients and PTE onset. Methods and Results—Sixty-six patients with VTE (mean age, 71.1 ± 14.6 years; male, 31; female, 35) were included in this study. The D-dimer level in the VTE patients with the thrombus of the central type was higher than that of the peripheral type (12.40 (7.89–25.30) μg/mL vs 4.59 (2.43–7.58) μg/mL, p < 0.01), and the thrombotic property of the acute thrombus was higher than that of the chronic thrombus (13.74 (8.29–28.05) μg/mL vs 4.74 (3.09–8.40) μg/mL, p < 0.01). Additionally, patients in the PTE group showed higher D-dimer levels than non-PTE group (16.32 (8.53–26.94) μg/mL vs 7.83 (4.10–13.57) μg/mL, p = 0.01). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that the cut-off of the D-dimer level was 8.04 μg/mL in VTE patients with PTE onset. Conclusion—It is suggested that the high plasma D-dimer level is related to the PTE onset and the high possibility of central type and acute thrombus in patients with VTE.