D-Dimer blood exam results

Chest and lungs
1

Hi,

Just let me provide you with a little bit of my medical background.
I am age 76 and back in 2016 I had an Aortic Valve replacement surgery done.

About year ago, I was not feeling to well and had to call emergency services and then stayed at the hospital for 2 weeks. They did some tests and it was revealed that I had a mild blood clot around. The most frusterating part, is that they still do not know where the blood clot is forming and I had been on blood thinners as well.

Before this blood exam that I had two days ago, I did cut down and stop taking the blood thinner to see if the Dr tells me if I need to go back taking them again after my blood exam results but looks like have to wait.

My D-Dimer result was not very good and called my local Dr to ask if I should be worried and she said no, not at all. Just watch for swelling and pain in the ankles and calves. Since she is not an angiologist, she is very hesitant to say more in detail, but according to her, it is not life threatening. But I am still very nervous.

The D-DIMER result was 844 nFEU/L whatever measurement this might means. The nornal range is 0 - 500

Should I be worried?

My guess, is that it most likely the result of my open AVR surgery that I had 4 yrs ago. I just don’t know. And, it is been also determined that the aortic tissue valve that they put in is a little bit small (21mm)…And I may need another operation.

Otherwise, at the moment, I am feeling fine.

2

I’ve learned that the d-dimer is very unreliable, and not to pay too much attention to them. Getting d-dimers years ago, before my clot, it was always very low, 0-100. During my clot, it was in the multiple thousands. Now, off thinners, it’s in the 800-1500 range and I’ve been fine. They are just very unreliable and most doctors ignore them unless you have other symptoms.

3

hi there not sure about the rest of your situation, when i had multiple bilateral embolisms the d dimer test i had was 6009 , which the hospital staff were a bit concerned about . I am only 46 , 42 when they occured . If you are concerned i would say speak to the doctor about maybe staying on them if it doesnt mess anything else up.
I have always been gung ho about my health but this has made me a fair bit more edgy and I always call the doctors to be safe

many regards
james

4

Is the 844 result very high or this all depends on certain conditions? I am feeling very nervous now. Hope I can speak to a professional this coming week. Worse case, is that I need to be back on the blood thinners.