engleski

Current practice related to D-dimer testing in Croatia

Background D-dimer assay provides an important contribution to the venous thromboembolism diagnostic diagnostic workup. However, the lack of standardization among different assays and laboratories is the main aspect that still complicates its diagnostic use. Aim The aim of this study was to present current practice related to D-dimer testing in Croatia. Methods The results are based on a review of data obtained in national survey related to overall haemostasis testing in the form of a questionnaire and conducted between June and September 2015. Results Among all respondents to the questionnaire (104/170 ; 61.2%), 42/104 (40.4%) of laboratories declared to perform the D-dimer assay. More than half of them reported to use Siemens Innovance D-dimer assay (25/42), while other commercial reagents for D- dimer assay were represented as followed: bioMerieuxVidas D-dimer (5/42), Roche Cardiac D-dimer (3/42), Roche immunoturbidimetric assay (3/42), Olympus D-dimer reagent (2/42), Nycocard D-dimer (2/42), IL-Dimer HS500 (1/42) and Abbott D-dimer (1/42). Among them, 24/42 indicated to use fibrinogen equivalent unit (FEU) and 18/42 declared to use D- dimer unit (DDU) reporting units for expressing D- dimer results. The survey results showed a number of different measurement units currently in use: mg/L (19/42), mg/L FEU (12/42), µg/L (5/42), µg/L FEU (4/42), µg/mL (1/42), ng/mL (1/42) and ng/mL FEU (1/42). All 42 laboratories declared to use fixed cut-off value and no one laboratory declared to use age-adjusted cut-off values. The most commonly used cut-off values were 0.5 mg/L DDU (15/42) and 0.5 mg/L FEU (10/42). Conclusion The results of our survey showed that different combinations of measurement and reported units are currently used to report D-dimer results. These results confirm and underline the need for further standardization in D-dimer results reporting at national level. Obviously, an effort should be directed towards harmonization of available commercial D-dimer methods.

D-dimer, testing, current practice

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