Annals Internal Medicine, Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Heart Disease / 19.04.2017
Rapid Rule-Out of Acute Myocardial Infarction With a Single High-Sensitivity Cardiac Troponin T Measurement
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Martin P. Than, MBBS
Emergency Department, Christchurch Hospital and
Dr John W Pickering, PhD
Associate Professor Senior Research Fellow in Acute Care
Emergency Care Foundation, Canterbury Medical Research Foundation, Canterbury District Health Board | Christchurch Hospital
Research Associate Professor | Department of Medicine | University of Otago
Christchurch New Zealand
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Patients being investigated for possible acute coronary syndrome comprise one of the largest groups of patients presenting to emergency rooms. Troponin assays have developed such that they can now measure with greater accuracy much lower concentrations of troponin. A large retrospective registry based study and a couple of smaller prospective studies suggested that patients with a very low concentrations of troponin T (below the current limit of detection of 5 ng/L) measured with Roche Diagnostic’s high-sensitivity troponin T (hsTnT) assay on presentation to the emergency department (ie single blood draw) are very unlikely to be having a myocardial infarction (MI).
Our study gathers the current best evidence for using concentrations below the limit of detection in conjunction with no evidence of new ischaemia on ECG to safely risk stratify patients to a very low-risk group for MI and, therefore, potentially identify patients safe for early discharge.
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