Ailments & ConditionsYour Health

Pulmonary Embolism – Diagnosis & Treatment

Blood Test

One of the first things that your doctor suggests when diagnosing a pulmonary embolism is to do some blood tests. A D-dimer is a technique that determines fibrin degradation fragments in your blood. This means it will find out if there is any clotting factor, which can be a possible sign of the condition. A positive result would suggest the possibility of a pulmonary embolism. Your doctor might also want to check the levels of troponin, a heart-related enzyme. Some other blood tests are necessary to rule out similar medical conditions, such as heart arrhythmia or a heart attack. [2]