Retrospective diagnosis of Behcet’s disease prompted by a false-positive D-dimer

Abstract

A 42-year-old lady underwent extensive investigations looking for thrombosis, cancer or vasculitis following repeated D-dimer testing with values greater than 60,000 μg/ml; the negativity of the imaging ruled out cancer or thrombosis, but a review of her clinical history suggested she had features of Behcet’s disease several years earlier, leading also the hypothesis that the elevated D-dimer could have been a false positive, as subsequently demonstrated. Careful history taking is mandatory for the early interpretation of symptoms linked to Behcet’s disease, and a high degree of suspicion for a false positivity must be applied to asymptomatic people with unusually high levels of D-dimer.