Abstract
Background
Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a common disease associated with high mortality and morbidity.
Diagnosing PE is challenging due to diverse clinical presentations and the lack of
specific biomarkers.
Objective
We hypothesized that plasma galectin-3 (Gal-3) levels might reflect the severity of
acute PE and be useful for diagnostic assessment.
Methods
In this prospective study, 150 patients (100 patients with PE and 50 control patients)
were included. Patients were stratified into high-risk, medium-risk, and low-risk
groups according to the Wells and revised Geneva scoring systems, and Gal-3 levels
were compared among the groups. PE was diagnosed by means of computed tomography pulmonary
angiography.
Results
In this study, of the 100 PE patients included in the study, 69 patients recovered
and were discharged and 31 patients died. Median Gal-3 value in the PE group was 27.0
ng/mL (range 11.5–35.0 ng/mL), whereas the median Gal-3 value in the control group
was significantly lower at 8.8 ng/mL (range 1.0–21.0 ng/mL) (p < 0.001). When the Gal-3 values of the PE group and the control group were evaluated
with the receiver operator characteristic curve, the area under the curve was calculated
as 0.99 (95% confidence interval 0.979–1). At a Gal-3 cutoff value of 13.55 ng/mL,
which was determined to be the most appropriate value for PE diagnosis, the sensitivity
was 98% and the specificity was 92%.
Conclusions
A biomarker that rapidly and accurately diagnoses acute PE in the emergency department
can be an extremely useful tool. We concluded that plasma Gal-3 levels can be regarded
as a promising marker of acute PE.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: April 30, 2022
Accepted:
April 23,
2022
Received in revised form:
March 4,
2022
Received:
June 7,
2021
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 Published by Elsevier Inc.
