Relation of pulmonary thromboembolism and significance of laboratory parameters (d-dimer-fibrinogen) of patients with isolated COPD during exacerbation

• Main Authors: Tufan Alatlı, Murat Ayan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Rabia Yılmaz 2020-06-01
• Series: Journal of Contemporary Medicine
• Subjects: d-dimer; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; pulmonary thromboembolism; kronik obstruktif akciğer hastalığı; pulmoner tromboemboli
• Online Access: https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/jcm/issue/54170/687541

Aim: Dyspnea can be a symptom of many diseases. Pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) is the most important one of these conditions. It can occur together with COPD and PTE, and their symptoms may mask each other. Identify the relationship between d-dimer levels of patients diagnosed with COPD exacerbation; is to determine the cut-off value in case of connection. It is aimed to guide clinicians in their patient management according to the results. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted prospectively. Patient group was 49 patients presenting to the emergency department with exacerbation of COPD who have no comorbid disease such as malignancy, Diabetes Mellitus (DM), Chronic Hearth Failure (CHF); were over than 18 years old, non-pregnant; and with Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) > 10 points and the control group consisted of 52 patients who presented to the emergency department with dyspnea who haven't got any diseases. Results: 65% of COPD patients are male. The most common comorbid disease was Hypertension (p <.05) in 7 patients (14,2%). Fibrinogen and d-dimer were higher in the patient group (p <.05). The D-dimer cut-off value in patients with COPD was 0.97 μg / ml (p<.05). Pulmonary thromboembolism was detected in 3 COPD attack patients (6%) (p <.05). During COPD exacerbation inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein (CRP), D-dimer, fibrinogen increases. Conclusions: The incidence of PTE was significantly increased in patients with COPD exacerbation. PTE should be absolutely included in the differential diagnosis in patients presenting to the emergency department with dyspnea and necessary examinations should be performed for the retraction.