Testing for changes in troponin over first hour speeds up detection of acute myocardial infarction

Testing blood for high sensitivity cardiac troponin T when patients with suspected myocardial infarction (MI) arrive at hospital and monitoring any changes over the first hour can accurately detect who has had a heart attack and who has not, a multicentre European study has found, which could accelerate decisions on management.

The study, reported in the Canadian Medical Association Journal,1 enrolled 1320 patients presenting with suspected acute MI to emergency departments at six centres in Italy, Spain, and Switzerland.

The patients were all tested with the high sensitivity cardiac …