Significance of D-dimer assay in the diagnosis of acute pulmonary embolism after deep second-degree burn in rabbits

Abstract

Objective: To explore the significance of D-dimer assay in the diagnosis of acute pulmonary embolism (APE) after deep seconddegree burn by detecting the changes of plasma D-dimer in rabbits with deep second-degree burn and in different phases of burn with concomitant pulmonary embolism.

Methods: 48 healthy male or female Chinese white rabbits, were randomly divided into: control group, burn group, burn shock group, burn shock + pulmonary embolism group, burn infection group and burn infection + pulmonary embolism group, with 8 rabbits in each group. By use of the ELISA method, the plasma D-dimer was determined on 1 d, 3 d, 5 d, 7 d, 14 d and 21 d after modeling in the burn group and the control group, and the plasma D-dimer in other groups was detected in 30 min, 1 h, 3 h, 6 h, 24 h after modeling.

Results: The expression of D-dimer in the burn group was higher than that in the control group on 1 d, 3 d, 5 d and 7 d (p < .05). There were significant differences in the expression of D-dimer in the burn shock + pulmonary embolism group in comparison to the burn shock group (p < .05). There were also some significant differences in the expression of D-dimer in the burn infection + pulmonary embolism group in comparison with the burn shock + pulmonary embolism group (p < .05).

Conclusions: There were some differences in the expression of D-dimer in each group. D-dimer can be used as one of diagnostic indexes for deep second-degree burn with pulmonary embolism.