Diagnostic Value of Copeptin in Patients with Suspected Pulmonary Embolism in Emergency Departments

Pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) is a serious and lifethreatening condition. Diagnosis of PTE can be challenging in emergency departments, as there is no absolutely reliable biomarker for the diagnosis of PTE. Copeptin (COP) is a new biomarker, which may be valuable in the diagnosis of PTE; however, its role has not been well studied. In this study, we aimed to investigate the diagnostic value of COP in the diagnosis of PTE.

This study was carried out on 102 patients suspected of PTE. The serum levels of D-dimer and COP were measured, and diagnosis of PTE was confirmed by CT angiography. Next, the prognostic value of D-dimer and COP was examined.

The area under the curve (AUC) of D-dimer was 0.581 with a standard error (SE) of 0.07 (P=0.34). Estimation of the validity of D-dimer showed that it is a highly sensitive (100%), but poorly specific (15.8%) test. Evaluation of the predictive value of this test showed that it has a positive predictive value of 20% and a negative predictive value of 100%. The AUC of COP was 0.423 with SE of 0.1 (P=0.44). Measurement of the validity of COP test showed that it is a poorly sensitive (50%) and specific (22.9%) test.

COP is a new cardiovascular biomarker. However, the present findings did not confirm the prognostic value of this biomarker for the diagnosis of PTE.