RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 To scan or not to scan – D-dimers and computed tomography pulmonary angiography in the era of COVID-19 JF Clinical Medicine JO Clin Med FD Royal College of Physicians SP e155 OP e160 DO 10.7861/clinmed.2020-0664 VO 21 IS 2 A1 Alexander A Tuck A1 Harriet L White A1 Badr A Abdalla A1 Gwendolen J Cartwright A1 Katherine R Figg A1 Emily N Murphy A1 Benjamin C Pyrke A1 Mark A Reynolds A1 Rana M Taha A1 Hasan N Haboubi YR 2021 UL http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/21/2/e155.abstract AB The COVID-19 pandemic has had many ramifications on healthcare delivery and practice. As part of this, utilising biomarkers to risk stratify patients has become increasingly popular. During the COVID-19 pandemic the use of D-dimer has increased due to the evidence of COVID-19 induced thrombo-embolic disease. We evaluated the use of D-dimer on all hospital admissions during the peak of the pandemic and evaluated its sensitivity in diagnosing pulmonary embolic disease (PE). Patients without COVID-19 infection were as likely to have evidence of PE as their COVID-positive counterparts. However, the sensitivity of a D-dimer was higher in COVID-positive patients at a lower D-dimer level (>1,500 μg/L, sensitivity 81%, specificity 70%) than in those without clinical, immunological or radiological evidence of COVID-19 infection (D-dimer >2,000 μg/L, sensitivity 80%, specificity 76%). These data suggest higher D-dimer thresholds should be considered for the exclusion of pulmonary emboli.