Comparison of the clinical usefulness of two quantitative D-Dimer tests in patients with a low clinical probability of pulmonary embolism

BACKGROUND: Quantitative D-Dimer tests are established methods in the non-invasive diagnostic management to rule out venous thromboembolism (VTE). The diagnostic performance and the clinical efficiency different D-Dimer assays in the exclusion of pulmonary embolism (PE) have not yet been compared in a clinical outcome study.

OBJECTIVE: Evaluation of the efficiency and safety of excluding the diagnosis of PE with two different quantitative D-Dimer assays in consecutive patients with clinically suspected PE.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: We studied the VTE-failure rate of 2206 consecutive patients with an unlikely clinical probability in whom VIDAS or Tinaquant D-Dimer tests were performed.

RESULTS: The prevalence of PE in 1238 patients whose D-Dimer level was analyzed with Tinaquant assay was 11%. The VIDAS assay group consisted of 968 patients with a PE prevalence of 13%. The VIDAS assay had a sensitivity of 99.2% (95%CI; 96- >99.9%), the Tinaquant assay of 97.3% (95%CI; 93 -99%). The negative predictive value (NPV) in the Tinaquant assay group was 99.4% (95%CI 98-99.8%) in comparison to 99.7% (95%CI 99->99.9%) in the VIDAS assay group. During 3 month of follow-up, there were no fatal cases of PE among patients with normal D-Dimer and unlikely clinical probability in both D-Dimer assay groups. In addition, the test efficiency of Tinaquant assay was significantly higher in comparison to VIDAS assay (52% vs 42%, p<0.001).

CONCLUSION: Both Tinaquant and VIDAS D-Dimer tests perform equally well in combination with an unlikely clinical probability in excluding PE. The Tinaquant test was shown to be more efficient.