Background—We evaluated whether cardiac troponin T (cTnT) measured with a new highly sensitive assay was associated with incident coronary heart disease (CHD), mortality, and hospitalization for heart failure (HF) in a general population of participants in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study. Methods and Results—Associations between increasing cTnT levels and CHD, mortality, an...

Troponin T is a structurally bound protein found in striated muscle cells. We tested concentrations of its cardiac-specific isotype in peripheral venous blood samples serially drawn from 72 patients with confirmed myocardial infarction. Fifty-nine patients received thrombolytic treatment with intravenous streptokinase, urokinase, or recombinant tissue-type plasminogen activator; because of cont...

[1] Shave RE, Whyte GP, George K, Gaze DC, Collinson PO. Prolonged exercise should be considered alongside typical symptoms of acute myocardial infarction when evaluating increases in cardiac troponin T. Heart 2005;91:1219–20. [2] Middleton N, George K, Whyte G, Gaze D, Collinson P, Shave R. Cardiac troponin T release is stimulated by endurance exercise in healthy humans. J Am Coll Cardiol 2008...

Many patients self-present or are referred by primary care to the emergency department with chest pain because of the potential that they may be suffering an acute myocardial infarction, one of the most common causes of death worldwide. Owing to diagnostic uncertainty, the majority of these patients are admitted, and, in some centres, chest pain is responsible for up to 40% of all unplanned hos...

BACKGROUND High-sensitivity troponin assays are now available for clinical use. We investigated whether early measurement with such an assay is superior to a conventional assay in the evaluation of acute coronary syndromes. METHODS Patients presenting to an emergency department with chest pain who did not have ST-segment elevation were prospectively recruited from November 2007 to December 20...

BACKGROUND Millions of patients present annually with chest pain, but only 10% to 15% have myocardial infarction. Lack of diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of clinical and conventional markers prevents or delays treatment and leads to unnecessary costly admissions. Comparative data are lacking on the new markers, yet using all of them is inappropriate and expensive. METHODS AND RESULTS T...

Background—Millions of patients present annually with chest pain, but only 10% to 15% have myocardial infarction. Lack of diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of clinical and conventional markers prevents or delays treatment and leads to unnecessary costly admissions. Comparative data are lacking on the new markers, yet using all of them is inappropriate and expensive. Methods and Results—The...