The use of D-dimers in the diagnosis of occult pulmonary emboli in HIV pulmonary disease - two case reports

Pulmonary thromboembolism is not considered a common cause of morbidity in HIV disease(1). Although anti-phospholipid antibodies are often seen in HIV disease, they are not associated with an increased thrombotic risk(2). Com puted tomographic (CT) pulmonary angiography has been described as the imag ing modality of first choice, as abnormal baseline chest X-rays may reduce the diagnostic utility of ventilation perfusion (VIQ) scanning(1). Ln HIV-n egative individuals D-dimer testing has been shown to be a good screening t ool in suspected pulmonary embolism(3). We present 2 cases where the diagno sis of pulmonary embolus was established using tests for the clotting degra dation products D-dimers.