Cohorts 1 to 4, in which patients were categorized as having a non-high or high probability, were combined for a pooled analysis | , Cohort 3 The third study cohort comprised consecutive patients with suspected DVT or PE who were included in a study evaluating a new latex D-dimer test HemosIL-D-dimer HS 500, Instrumentation Laboratory |
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Patients were followed up by a clinic visit or telephone contact at the end of 3 months and were instructed to contact their physician if their leg symptoms worsened or if they developed symptoms suggestive of PE | In all studies, the outcome of interest was the development of VTE DVT or PE during 3 months of follow-up in patients in whom DVT was considered excluded after initial diagnostic investigation and who did not receive anticoagulants during follow-up |
DVT was ruled out based on: i a non-high clinical probability in combination with a normal D-dimer test result or ii a normal repeated CUS result in patients with a high clinical probability of DVT or an abnormal D-dimer test result — CUS was repeated in patients with normal results on CUS at presentation on days 6 to 8 and days 13-15 | Cohort 4 The fourth study was conducted between August 1999 and November 2001 at three hospitals in Ontario, Canada, affiliated with McMaster University in Hamilton |
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The results and the inclusion and exclusion criteria were published previously | Patients with an intermediate clinical probability of DVT and a normal D-dimer test underwent imaging studies at the treating physician's discretion |
Sono inclusi cinque setacci di base, un vassoio di alluminio per essiccare le schiacciate e una retina per essiccare le erbe。 DVT was established based on non-compressibility of the common femoral or popliteal vein with CUS.
However, we believe that including different study cohorts reinforces the generalizability of our findings | The inclusion and exclusion criteria were published previously |
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Increasing the D-dimer cut-off value did not compromise safety | The diagnosis of DVT can be safely excluded based on the combination of a low or intermediate clinical probability combined with a negative D-dimer blood test, in which case imaging studies can be avoided |
The absolute increase in patients in whom DVT could be ruled out i.