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 protocol for stopping anticoagulants?

cjmenjou
cjmenjou
Got the letter from my hematologist on Saturday, my battery of genetic blood tests came back normal, negative or insignificant, so I am continuing on a 6 month course of anticoags (Jan 1 would be the first day off).

He has also recommnded having a D Dimer test just before going off anticoags, then one 2 weeks and 4 weeks out. If there were a spike, he would recommned going back on.

I have seen reference to this here and there (and I've searched google and found some info), but wondered if anyone knew about the protocol, had the protocol, experience with false positives, is it reliable, etc.

Thanks

Chris
RetiredNavy02
RetiredNavy02
Your doctors recommendation regarding D-dimer testing sounds good.

Here is some info regarding D-dimer from a blood clot specialist:

http://www.fvleiden.org/ask/19.html

For the majority of patients, D-dimer is a worthwhile test. For a small percentage of patients, like myself, it provided little information since the results were normal (not indicating a clot).
cjmenjou
cjmenjou
Thank you. So I guess the theory is that if you have a tendency to clot, as opposed to an acute circumstance (surgery, travel, etc), that when you are no longer anticoagulated your body will likely start to clot... The idea of going off coumadin is a little scary, I thought it strange to only test 4 weeks out, but I guess under that theory it makes sense.
RetiredNavy02
RetiredNavy02
General guidelines on Coumadin/Warfarin therapy as discussed in the following link. Looked at the section titled "2001 Recommendations for length of coumadin therapy"

http://www.fvleiden.org/ask/09.html

And of course the following guidelines discusses the level of risk associated with certain medical conditions or lifestyles:

http://stoptheclot.org/stoplight.htm
Ferr
Ferr
cjmenjou, In my case I get the D-Dimer test if a clot is suspected. It is one of the many tools my doctor uses to determine if I have had another clotting episode. If the D-Dimer comes back abnormal then he checks other things like My Sp02 saturation's (oxygen saturation in my blood), Heart rate, Blood pressure, and pain levels when I breath and lung sounds. Often he will recommend a follow up CT scan to double check his finding. In most cases if the D-Dimer comes back negative then it usually indicates no clotting issue. However with that said there are some factors that can cause a false positive but that too is not frequent and that's usually when the doctors do all the fun follow up tests. I agree with Tom on your Doctors recommending the D-Dimer test to follow up on your progress.
Good Luck and God Bless
Ferr