Troponin T testing: heart attack diagnosis now available within one hour

Results from the cardiac troponin T–hs (high sensitivity) assay for RAPID rule-out of Acute Myocardial Infarction (TRAPID-AMI) clinical study have been published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine,1 confirming a novel approach for a more rapid diagnosis of heart attack in patients with acute chest pain. The strategy is based on the cardiac troponin T high-sensitivity test from Roche and reduces the observation time needed to rule-in or rule-out a heart attack from three–six hours to just one hour. It is well established that a fast and reliable diagnosis of heart attack is critical because every hour of delay from the onset of symptoms to treatment increases the mortality risk.3

“Thanks to this new approach, we can now shorten the time to heart attack diagnosis for millions of patients presenting in A&E with acute chest pain all over the world,” said Christian Mueller, Professor of Cardiology at the University of Basel, Switzerland, one of the study’s principal investigators. “Patients no longer have to wait for three or more hours in the emergency department, not knowing whether they have an acute, life-threatening disease or if their chest pain is caused by other reasons.”

The UK clinical expert Dr Richard Body, a consultant in emergency medicine at Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, commented on the findings: “Chest pain is the most common reason why people are admitted to hospital as an emergency in England and Wales. However, it is often impossible to determine which patients have a potentially life?threatening heart problem and those who have something far less serious.