What Everybody Ought to Know About D-Dimer in COVID Monitoring Test
Akshay was exhibiting symptoms of Coronavirus, and hence he decided to take an RT-PCR test to confirm a diagnosis. His test report came out negative, but the symptoms continued. Later on, when he took a Corona Monitoring Profile Test, it was found that his lungs had contracted the virus.
This is just one of the many examples where people who reported negative RT-PCR tests exhibited widespread damage to their vital organs.
Seeing the current trends of post-Covid complications where the reports of patients with symptoms came negative, doctors have taken the help of many other effective testing procedures — D-Dimer, CRP, Interleukin-6 among others for better prognosis.
Monitoring of COVID 19 Patients progression is necessary because the result indicates Covid-19 related cytokine storm and it helps in timely medical intervention to reduce fatality.
Due to such increased cases, the D-Dimer tests have gained significance amid the COVID-19 pandemic because higher D-Dimer levels have been linked with disease severity and mortality trends.
Read on to know more about the significance of D-Dimer in the Coronavirus Monitoring Test.
The Basics of D-Dimer
D-Dimer is one of the fibrin degradation products present in the blood after a blood clot is degraded by fibrinolysis. When any part of the body is damaged or is bleeding, the body tries to stop the bleeding by clumping the cells together to make a network. This network is produced from a protein called fibrin. A vibration begins at the bleeding site to form a blood clot due to the crisscrossing of fibrin. When healing occurs or when the body thinks it no longer needs the clot, it starts to degrade it and starts breaking down the fibrin. This breakdown of fibrin results in the formation of fibrin degradation products or FDPs. And one of the FDPs is known as D-Dimer.
Importance of D-Dimer Test in Corona Monitoring Profile
When a COVID-19 infected person becomes severe, the D-Dimer tests show the presence of clots inside the body. Due to the formation of many clots, especially in the lungs, the lungs cannot breathe and the person can experience shortness of breath. The clotting results in hampering blood flow. So, the body takes a series of steps to break down these clots. After the processes, D-Dimer is the leftover product in the blood. It is detectable for up to eight hours after formation until the time the kidney clears it out.
A higher level of D-Dimer in a COVID Monitoring Test indicates that lots of clots were formed in the body. This is a dangerous sign when affected with Covid-19.
Coronavirus primarily causes lower respiratory tract infection seen in the form of fever, cough, dyspnea, and lethargy. But a few cases of Coronavirus can even lead to severe conditions like multi-organ failure, etc. Therefore, the D-Dimer test is used to assess the severity of COVID disease.
It is estimated that about 10–15% of COVID-19 patients experience a severe form of this disease that can even progress to hypoxia, severe pneumonia, and respiratory failure. The test results can also predict whether the patient will need oxygen in the future because the higher their D-dimer, the higher the number of clots in the lungs and the higher the chances of them needing oxygen.
Furthermore, about 5% of these COVID-19 cases can even lead to severe forms like acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) or multiple organ failure (MOF), both of which require intensive care unit (ICU) admittance.
As D-Dimer has gained significance due to the pandemic, there is a widespread facility available for this test. You can go for a COVID Monitoring Test that examines many important biomarkers in the body, including IL-6, D-Dimer, Platelets, Neutrophils, CRP, Ferritin etc. Monitoring the levels of these components is crucial for better prognosis and management of infection. Anyone recovering from Covid-19 or have recovered can take these tests to check the status of their vital organs.
Conclusion
As we know, the Sars-Cov-2 virus can form a colony in the lungs and can turn more dangerous than we can even think of. Rare symptoms of blood clotting are being seen, and this is the major reason that the D-Dimer test has proved to be undeniable. The D-Dimer test appropriately shows the presence of clots in the blood. Elevated D-dimer levels can help identify people who can be at higher risk of novel coronavirus complications.
Therefore, you must get a Corona Monitoring Profile test for early prognosis. In addition, early identification of these severe forms of COVID-19 has resulted in many doctors recommending these reliable biomarkers tests.
