High-Sensitivity Cardiac Troponin Assays: From Implementation to Resource Utilization and Cost Effectiveness.

BACKGROUND

Cardiac troponin is the gold-standard biomarker for the evaluation of patients with suspected acute myocardial infarction (MI). Improvements in assay technology have led to high-sensitivity cardiac troponin assays that, when incorporated into accelerated diagnostic pathways, may rapidly diagnose or exclude acute MI more efficiently than conventional troponin assays.

CONTENT: In this narrative review, we provide practical suggestions for implementing high-sensitivity cardiac troponin assays, review accelerated diagnostic pathways incorporating these assays, and review the impact of these assays on resource utilization and cost-effectiveness in relation to the evaluation of individuals with possible acute MI.

SUMMARY: An increasing number of hospitals are transitioning to high-sensitivity cardiac troponin assays. This narrative review provides an overview of the potential benefits of this transition.