Clinical analysis of D-dimer in elderly patients with different pulmonary disease

Abstract

Objective To investigate the clinical significance of the level of plasma D-dimer in elderly patients with different pulmonary diseases.Methods The plasma D-dimer level was measured in 310 patients with pneumonia,tuberculosis,the exacerbation stage of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,acute pulmonary embolism,primary lung cancer,ambulant lung cancer,and the results of D-dimer in six groups were compared.Results The levels of D-dimer in 236 patients were apparently higher than those in control group (P ＜0.05).The levels of D-dimer in patients with tuberculosis,the exacerbation stage of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,acute pulmonary embolism,primary lung cancer and ambulant lung cancer,were obviously higher than those in patients with pneumonia (P ＜ 0.05).The levels of D-dimer were not significantly different in patients with tuberculosis,the exacerbation stage of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,primary lung cancer and ambulant lung cancer (P ＞0.05).The levels of D-dimer in patients with acute pulmonary embolism were much higher than that that in tuberculosis,the exacerbation stage of chronicive obstructive pulmonary disease,primary lung cancer and ambulant lung cancer (P ＜0.05).Conclusions Different pulmonary diseases (pneumonia,tuberculosis,the exacerbation stage of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,acute pulmonary embolism,primary lung cancer and ambulant lung cancer) may be related to the abnormal blood coagulation state.The diagnosis of acute pulmonary embolism in patients with normal level of D-dimer may be ruled out,but we can not use it as the index of the severity degree of the pulmonary disease. Key words: D-dimer; Pulmonary disease; Acute pulmonary embolism ; Elderly patient