D dimer and APS

[Annslack]

This article was published in the Guardian . It gives an explanation of why the D dimer test may not find evidence of clots in people with APS.

theguardian.com/commentisfr...

One of the consequences of what she explains is that the D dimer test is not picking up these clots because the test measures breakdown products and these clots arent breaking down .

I have read elsewhere that APS patients have impaired fibrinolysis which is the same thing . The fibrin isnt breaking down and therefore it's by products arent picked up by the D dimer test.

This is very significant to me and I suspect others with this condition because I had a negative d- dimer and that was enough for doctors to be adamant that I couldn't have clots.

Even my recovery from severe illness with heparin treatment wasnt enough to override the conviction based on the d dimer.

I thought others on here with similar experience might find this interesting and useful.

[sartee]

I have APS and have had several incidents of PE’s. Each time the D dimer result has been negative yet the scans have shown multiple PE’s at the same time.

[Clotia]

Thank you, that is very useful to know. So you are saying that the D Dimer test doesn’t show or prove that there are clots in your system?

[Jumper99]

if you read about the d-dimer test it says it’s not accurate for people with a clotting illness. You can get false positives too as far as I understand it. It’s been known for years so I don’t know why doctors don’t know it.

[KellyInTexas Administrator in reply to Jumper99]

i could not have written a better sentence.

[MaryF Administrator]

That is extremely interesting, thank you for taking the trouble to put it on here. MaryF