I recently experienced pleuritic chest pain and went to the ER. My cxr and ekg were normal. Blood tests showed elevated d-dimer, and so a CT followed which showed nothing. What could be the possible cause for this elevated d-dimer? This isn t the first time that I ve had this happen, only to have the same results. I really hate to spend hospital time/resources (and money I don t have) on what always seems to turn out to be excessive testing.. I thought perhaps menstruation might be a contributing issue (I ve been diagnosed with thoracic endo), but I hear that s not necessarily been proven.. Any insights would be greatly appreciated!