High-Sensitivity Cardiac Troponin Testing: Effect on Myocardial Injury and Myocardial Infarction Diagnoses

With the approval of newer high-sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTn) assays, there are questions about how that will change the frequency of abnormal findings and diagnoses. Investigators made use of the transition from 4th- to 5th-generation hs-cTn testing in several hospitals to assess changes in MI diagnoses.

The retrospective cohort study included 3536 unique patients (mean age, 62 years; 51% women) evaluated in the emergency department, half during the 6 months prior to implementation of the hs-cTn assay and half during the 6 months postimplementation.

The percentage of patients with at least one troponin measurement >99th percentile upper-reference-limit thresholds (10 ng/L for women, 15 ng/L for men) increased significantly after hs-c…