ABSTRACT

D-dimer, a soluble fibrin degradation product that originates from plasmin-induced degradation of cross-linked fibrin, is an important biomarker of coagulation activation and secondary fibrinolysis that is routinely used to rule out venous thromboembolism (VTE), to evaluate the risk of VTE recurrence as well as the optimal duration of anticoagulant therapy. Besides VTE, D-dimer may be high due to physiologic conditions, including aging, pregnancy and strenuous physical activity. In addition, several disorders have been associated with increased D-dimer levels, spanning from disseminated intravascular coagulation to infectious diseases and cancers. Thus, it is far from unusual for hematologists to have to deal with ambulatory individuals presenting with increased Ddimer without signs or symptoms of thrombus formation. To the management of these cases by the hematologist is dedicated this narrative review.

PMID:37881856 | DOI:10.3324/haematol.2023.283966

21:51

PubMed articles on: Cancer & VTE/PE

Causal effect of atrial fibrillation on pulmonary embolism: a mendelian randomization study

J Thromb Thrombolysis. 2023 Oct 15. doi: 10.1007/s11239-023-02903-w. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Atrial fibrillation (AF) can increase thrombosis, especially arterial thrombosis, and some studies show that AF patients have a higher risk of developing pulmonary embolism (PE). The objective of our study is to investigate whether there is a direct causal effect of AF on PE. A two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) approach was utilized to determine whether there is a causal relationship between AF and PE. European population-based consortia provided statistical data on the associations between Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) and relevant traits. The AF dataset was obtained from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) comprising 60,620 cases and 970,216 controls, while a GWAS of 1846 cases and 461,164 controls identified genetic variations associated with PE. Estimation of the causal effect was mainly performed using the random effects inverse-variance weighted method (IVW). Additionally, other tests such as MR-Egger intercept, MR-PRESSO, Cochran's Q test, "Leave-one-out," and funnel plots were conducted to assess the extent of pleiotropy and heterogeneity. Using 70 SNPs, there was no evidence to suggest an association between genetically predicted AF and risk of PE with multiplicative random-effects IVW MR analysis (odds ratio = 1.0003, 95% confidence interval: 0.9998-1.0008, P = 0.20). A null association was also observed in other methods. MR-Egger regression and MR-PRESSO respectively showed no evidence of directional (intercept, - 2.25; P = 0.94) and horizontal(P-value in the global heterogeneity test = 0.99) pleiotropic effect across the genetic variants. No substantial evidence was found to support the causal role of AF in the development of PE. Causal effect of atrial fibrillation on pulmonary embolism: a Mendelian randomization study. AF atrial fibrillation, PE pulmonary embolism, GWAS genome-wide association studies, SNPs single nucleotide polymorphisms, OR odds ratio, CI confidence interval.

PMID:37839022 | DOI:10.1007/s11239-023-02903-w

21:51

PubMed articles on: Cancer & VTE/PE

Heterogeneous distributions in clinical events preceding anticoagulant treatment nonpersistence in patients with venous thromboembolism stratified by active cancer: A nationwide cohort study

Cancer Med. 2023 Oct 26. doi: 10.1002/cam4.6626. Online ahead of print.