Pulmonary Embolism Support Group

By far the most common form of pulmonary embolism is a thromboembolism, which occurs when a blood clot, generally a venous thrombus, becomes dislodged from its site of formation and embolizes to the arterial blood supply of one of the lungs. Symptoms may include difficulty breathing, pain during breathing, and more rarely circulatory instability and death.

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D dimer

Law2017
Law2017

Hi everyone. I have some questions about d dimer test. I went to the er as I have chest discomfort and right arm pain as well. They  did a EKG that was fine They did chest x ray as well that was also fine, but he said that I had a high d dimer it was 660, all my other vital signs were good. He said he had to do a cta. To rule a pe out. It came back fine Nothing. He never  did an ultrasound to check my legs which I didn't have any pain there. I told him I was cleaning and I felt like I just pulled something he wouldn't take that for an answer. I feel like the ct scan was unnecessary when everything  was Ok. I didn't know till after that you get a lot of radiation from ct scan which was never said to me at all. I followed up with my doctor a few days later and she said it was just a pinch nerve and d dimer could be elevated for many reasons....what everyone opinion on this? I feel like I should of declined the ct scan but he said that he said I had a high probability that I have a pe........i feel like they dropped the ball on this. 

rmb
rmb
They wouldn't have done an ultrasound on your legs if you had no symptoms of a dvt. A normal d dimer can rule out a clot. An elevated d dimer can be caused by a lot of things including a clot. So based on symptoms, whatever risk factors the doc thought you had and your dimer, he must have felt concerned enough to order the Ct scan. I don't think he did anything outrageous.

Me, I'd take my chances with radiation over dropping dead from a PE.
corvid100
corvid100
I also feel that the doctor's choice to rule out PE was appropiate. My first round of PE was misdiagnosed at the clinic I went to as a virus,and the pain was diagnosed as muscular. It wasn't till a few days later that I ended up in the ER in really bad shape with bilateral clots. Aslo, I never had an ultrasound study of my legs either. I had what I though was sciatica a few days before,but by the time I was art the hospital, there were no DVT symptoms at all

So I understand you concern about the radiation exposure, but in this case I think the correct descision was made.
Law2017
Law2017
Thank you for the comments. I appreciate it. Just wanted to get some opinions...thank you
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