COMPARISON OF 3-D-DIMER ASSAYS FOR THE DIAGNOSIS OF DVT - ELISA, LATEX AND AN IMMUNOFILTRATION ASSAY (NYCOCARD D-DIMER)

Ninety-two consecutive patients referred for suspicion of deep venous thrombosis (DVT) were analyzed for D-dimer using ELISA, latex test, an d a new immunofiltration method (NycoCard D-Dimer). Contrast venograph y verified the diagnosis in 40, and excluded the diagnosis in 52 patie nts. The sensitivity, negative predictive values, specificity and posi tive predictive values were, for ELISA 98%, 95%, 38% and 54, for NycoC ard D-Dimer 100%, 100%, 42% and 57% and for the latex test 73%, 78%, 7 5%, and 69%, respectively. Sensitivity and specificity were inversely related with increasing pathological cut-off value. Comparison of test results by concentration category revealed a good agreement between E LISA and NycoCard D-Dimer, but to less extent between latex and the tw o other tests. It is concluded that NycoCard D-Dimer and D-dimer ELISA are well-suited as exclusion tests for DVT. A plasma sample is tested with NycoCard D-Dimer in less than 2 min. Thus, this test combines ad vantageous analytical properties comparable to the ELISA-test, with ra pidity and simplicity comparable to the latex test.