The relationship between acute ischaemic stroke and plasma D-dimer levels in patients developing neither venous thromboembolism nor major intercurrent illness

102 unselected acute ischaemic stroke (AIS) patients screened for venous thromboembolism (VTE), with a subset of 52 patients developing neither VTE nor intercurrent illness analyzed for the relationship between D-dimers and AIS.

Measurement of plasma D-dimers using the VIDAS immunofluorescent assay (cut-off >= 500 ng/ml) and the IL test D-dimer immunoturbidimetric assay (cut-off >= 255 ng/ml) on days 2, 9, 14, and 21.

Plasma D-dimer levels over 21 days and performance characteristics (sensitivity and specificity) of two D-dimer assays as exclusionary tests for VTE.surrogate