Triage during pandemic influenza: seeking absolution in numbers?

A.S. J. has been consultant to many companies dealing with diagnostics. High-sensitive cardiac troponin T measurements in prediction of non-cardiac complications after major abdominal surgery. Association of cardiac troponin, CK-MB, and postoperative myocardial ischemia with long-term survival after major vascular surgery. Use of clinically based troponin underestimates the cardiac injury in non-cardiac surgery: a single-centre cohort studying 51,701 consecutive patients. de Graaff JC, et al. Myocardial injury after noncardiac surgery and its association with short-term mortality. High sensitivity troponin T concentrations in patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery: a prospective cohort study. Significance of elevated cardiac troponin T levels in critically ill patients with acute respiratory disease. et al. Long-term prognostic significance of elevated cardiac troponin levels in critically ill patients with acute gastrointestinal bleeding. cardiac troponin, and long-term survival of high-cardiac risk critically ill intensive care unit patients. Troponin elevation in severe sepsis and septic shock: the role of left ventricular dia-stolic dysfunction and right ventricular dilatation. Crit Care Med 2014; 42: 790–800 15. Jacobs LH, van de Kerkhof J, Mingels AM, et al. Haemodialysis patients longitudinally assessed by highly sensitive cardiac troponin T and commercial cardiac troponin T and cardiac troponin I assays. value of cardiac troponin I and T for subsequent death in end-stage renal disease. Guidelines: analytical issues for biochemical markers of acute coronary syndromes. Circulation 2007; 115: e352–5 21. Jaffe AS, Vasile VC, Milone M, et al. Diseased skeletal muscle: a noncardiac source of increased circulating concentrations of cardiac troponin T. Decisions on the prioritization of health-care resources are a feature of all health-care systems and are often taken by organizations such as the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technology in Health (CADTH), or Deustche Agentur für Health Techology Assessment (DAHTA). These organizations bring together clinicians, health economists, academics, and other interested parties, and produce recommendations after careful consideration of the evidence presented. However, there are times when prioritization decisions need to be made far more Editorials | 865