A Retrospective Analysis of Serum D-Dimer Levels for the Exclusion of Acute Aortic Dissection

Tony Zitek,1 Mani Hashemi,2 Sara Zagroba,2 Valori H Slane2 1Department of Emergency Medicine, Mount Sinai Medical Center, Miami Beach, FL, USA; 2Department of Emergency Medicine, Kendall Regional Medical Center, Miami, FL, USACorrespondence: Tony Zitek, Department of Emergency Medicine, Mount Sinai Medical Center, 4300 Alton Road, Miami Beach, FL, 33140, USA, Tel +1-305-674-2121 Ext 56632, Email Zitek10@gmail.comPurpose: Acute aortic dissection (AAD) is a highly fatal disorder if not promptly diagnosed. Some international studies have suggested that serum d-dimer levels may be used to exclude AAD, but data are limited. We sought to confirm that d-dimer levels are elevated in American patients with AAD. Additionally, we sought to estimate the test characteristics of the d-dimer for AAD.Patients and Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of patients in the Hospital Corporation of America database who arrived at the hospital between 2015 and 2019. We queried the database to find patients who had a diagnosis of AAD or (nonspecific) chest pain, and who also had a d-dimer performed within 24 hours of arrival at the hospital. The median d-dimer was compared in those diagnosed with AAD versus chest pain. We estimated the test characteristics of d-dimer for AAD at the standard cutoff value of 500 ng/mL.Results: In total, 48,902 patients met the criteria for analysis, including 572 with AAD and 48,330 with chest pain. The median d-dimers were 2455 ng/mL and 385 ng/mL for the AAD and chest pain groups, respectively (p < 0.0001). Using a cutoff of 500 ng/mL, the sensitivity of the d-dimer was 91.1% and the specificity was 71.4%.Conclusion: Serum d-dimer values are higher in patients with AAD than in those with nonspecific chest pain. At the standard cutoff of 500 ng/mL, the serum d-dimer has a high sensitivity for AAD, but not high enough that d-dimer levels alone can be used in isolation to exclude AAD.Keywords: aorta, dissection, d-dimer, diagnosis