Objective:To establish and optimize the cutoff values of D-dimer (D-D) for excluding suspected acute pulmonary embolism (APE).Methods:A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted by recruiting a total of 428 patients with suspected APE complaining of chest pain, hemoptysis, dyspnea, etc., who underwent computed tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA) in the Emergency Department of the First Hospital of Jilin University from January 1st, 2022, to October 31st, 2024, taken as observation group. The Median age was 64.0 (55.0, 72.0) years old with male and female 214 respectively. Data collection included clinical manifestations(hemoptysis, swelling and pain in the lower limbs), deep vein thrombosis (DVT) history, Wells scores, laboratory results, CTPA and vascular ultrasound foundings. According to CTPA results, observation group was divided into APE group (233 cases) and non-APE group (195 cases); according to Wells scoring, observation group was divided into APE at low, moderate, or high pre-test probability subgroups. Meanwhile, 196 healthy individuals in the same period were included as the health control group. D-D levels were compared among different groups. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to determine the D-D cutoff values for excluding APE, and the area under the curve (AUC) and negative predictive value (NPV) were evaluated.Results:D-D levels in the CTPA-APE group, CTPA-non APE group, and the healthy control group were [7.77 (4.10, 16.58)] mg/L, [0.53 (0.24, 0.94)] mg/L, and [0.21 (0.15, 0.32)] mg/L, respectively, with statistically significant differences ( P<0.05). In the APE group, D-D levels within low-, moderate-, and high-probability subgroups were [7.48 (3.87, 15.85)] mg/L, [7.92 (4.08, 13.90)] mg/L, and [21.39 (7.92, 89.68)] mg/L, respectively, with statistically significant differences among subgroups ( P<0.05), while no significant difference between low-and moderate-probability subgroups ( P>0.05). For suspected APE with low-probability, exclusive D-D level was 0.62 mg/L with AUC and NPV at 1.000 and 100% taking healthy control group as negative control, and 1.65 mg/L with AUC and NPV at 0.989 and 94.00% taking non-APE group as negative control, while the optimized D-D level was 1.10 mg/L adjusted by NPV ≥98%. For suspected APE with low to moderate-probability, the exclusive D-D level was 0.55 mg/L with AUC and NPV at 0.997 and 99.00% taking healthy control group as negative control, and 1.64 mg/L with AUC and NPV at 0.979 and 92.60%, while the optimized D-D level was 0.55 mg/L adjusted by NPV ≥98%. Conclusion:This study established and optimized the exclusive diagnostic cutoff value of D-D for suspected APE in Emergency Department integrated with the Wells scoring, which may effectively reduce the false-positive rate while improve the clinical application for APE exclusion using D-D.

Objective:To establish and optimize the cutoff values of D-dimer (D-D) for excluding suspected acute pulmonary embolism (APE).Methods:A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted by recruiting a total of 428 patients with suspected APE complaining of chest pain, hemoptysis, dyspnea, etc., who underwent computed tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA) in the Emergency Department of the First Hospital of Jilin University from January 1st, 2022, to October 31st, 2024, taken as observation group. The Median age was 64.0 (55.0, 72.0) years old with male and female 214 respectively. Data collection included clinical manifestations(hemoptysis, swelling and pain in the lower limbs), deep vein thrombosis (DVT) history, Wells scores, laboratory results, CTPA and vascular ultrasound foundings. According to CTPA results, observation group was divided into APE group (233 cases) and non-APE group (195 cases); according to Wells scoring, observation group was divided into APE at low, moderate, or high pre-test probability subgroups. Meanwhile, 196 healthy individuals in the same period were included as the health control group. D-D levels were compared among different groups. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to determine the D-D cutoff values for excluding APE, and the area under the curve (AUC) and negative predictive value (NPV) were evaluated.Results:D-D levels in the CTPA-APE group, CTPA-non APE group, and the healthy control group were [7.77 (4.10, 16.58)] mg/L, [0.53 (0.24, 0.94)] mg/L, and [0.21 (0.15, 0.32)] mg/L, respectively, with statistically significant differences ( P<0.05). In the APE group, D-D levels within low-, moderate-, and high-probability subgroups were [7.48 (3.87, 15.85)] mg/L, [7.92 (4.08, 13.90)] mg/L, and [21.39 (7.92, 89.68)] mg/L, respectively, with statistically significant differences among subgroups ( P<0.05), while no significant difference between low-and moderate-probability subgroups ( P>0.05). For suspected APE with low-probability, exclusive D-D level was 0.62 mg/L with AUC and NPV at 1.000 and 100% taking healthy control group as negative control, and 1.65 mg/L with AUC and NPV at 0.989 and 94.00% taking non-APE group as negative control, while the optimized D-D level was 1.10 mg/L adjusted by NPV ≥98%. For suspected APE with low to moderate-probability, the exclusive D-D level was 0.55 mg/L with AUC and NPV at 0.997 and 99.00% taking healthy control group as negative control, and 1.64 mg/L with AUC and NPV at 0.979 and 92.60%, while the optimized D-D level was 0.55 mg/L adjusted by NPV ≥98%. Conclusion:This study established and optimized the exclusive diagnostic cutoff value of D-D for suspected APE in Emergency Department integrated with the Wells scoring, which may effectively reduce the false-positive rate while improve the clinical application for APE exclusion using D-D.