Scandinavian cardiovascular journal : SCJ
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Scand. Cardiovasc. J. · Dec 2002
Multicenter Study Comparative StudyA comparison of spiral computed tomography and latex agglutination D-dimer assay in acute pulmonary embolism using pulmonary arteriography as gold standard.
To compare the diagnostic accuracy of contrast medium enhanced spiral computed tomography of the pulmonary arteries (s-CTPA) and a latex agglutination D-dimer assay in patients with suspected acute pulmonary embolism (PE) by using pulmonary arteriography (PA) and clinical follow-up as reference method. ⋯ s-CTPA has a higher sensitivity and specificity than latex agglutination D-dimer. A cut-off level of 0.25 mg/l can be used as screening method, but s-CTPA must be performed to exclude false positive cases.