title: The value of D-dimer test in the diagnosis of patients with nontraumatic acute abdomen.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A patient with acute abdominal pain requires rapid evaluation. In these patients, it is very important to distinguish between surgical and nonsurgical pathology. Our aim was to compare the accuracy of the leukocyte count and D-dimer test in the diagnosis of acute abdomen.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this prospective study, 225 patients admitted to the emergency unit due to nontraumatic acute abdomen between June 2006 and November 2007 were evaluated. The patients were divided into two groups: Group 1 patients who needed immediate laparotomy and Group 2 patients who did not. Age, gender, leukocyte count, D-dimer level, causes of acute abdominal pain, and operative findings were investigated. P values of <0.05 were considered statistically significant.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was a positive correlation between the plasma D-dimer level and leukocyte count. D-dimer acted similarly to the leukocyte count in emergency abdominal conditions. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was statistically higher with the D-dimer test (p<0.0001). Additionally, in patients needing immediate laparotomy, the sensitivity of the D-dimer test was 95.7% versus 74.8% for leukocyte counts.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In a patient with acute abdomen, D-dimer test may be a strong alternative or an adjuvant to the leukocyte count.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Erciyes University Faculty of Medicine, Kayseri, Turkey. hyakyildiz@gmail.com
authors.forename: Hizir Yakup
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Akyildiz
authors.forename: Erdoğan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sözüer
authors.forename: Alper
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Akcan
authors.forename: Can
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Küçük
authors.forename: Tarik
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Artis
authors.forename: Ismail
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Biri
authors.forename: Namik
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yilmaz
mesh_terms: D000006:Abdomen, Acute / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D015746:Abdominal Pain / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery; D000208:Acute Disease; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D005338:Fibrin Fibrinogen Degradation Products / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D007813:Laparotomy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007958:Leukocyte Count / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012372:ROC Curve
chemical_list: D005338:Fibrin Fibrinogen Degradation Products; C036309:fibrin fragment D