Point of Care Significance 7/10

Point-of-Care Troponin I Test Shows Diagnostic Promise for Acute MI in Emergency Settings

A prospective multicenter study evaluated the Minicare cardiac troponin I point-of-care test in 465 emergency department patients with suspected acute coronary syndrome. At 3 hours using optimized cut-offs, the test achieved 90% sensitivity, 96% specificity, and an AUC of 0.93 for AMI diagnosis. These results support the clinical usefulness of POC troponin testing within a 0h/3h blood sampling protocol aligned with current ACS guidelines.

The original study

Clinical performance of a new point-of-care cardiac troponin I test.

Authors
Christ M, Geier F, Blaschke S, Giannitsis E, Khellaf M, Mair J, et al.
Journal
Clinical chemistry and laboratory medicine
Type
Journal Article, Multicenter Study
PMID
29630502
Read the original study →

Original abstract

BACKGROUND: We evaluated the clinical performance of the Minicare cardiac troponin-I (cTnI), a new point-of-care (POC) cTnI test for the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in a prospective, multicentre study (ISRCTN77371338). METHODS: Of 474 patients (≥18 years) admitted to an emergency department (ED) or chest pain unit (CPU) with symptoms suggestive of acute coronary syndrome (ACS; ≤12 h from symptom onset), 465 were eligible. Minicare cTnI was tested immediately, 3 h and 6 h after presentation. AMI diagnoses were adjudicated independently based on current guidelines. RESULTS: The diagnostic performance of the Minicare cTnI test at 3 h was similar for whole blood and in plasma: sensitivity 0.92 vs. 0.90; specificity 0.91 vs. 0.90; positive predictive value (PPV) 0.68 vs. 0.66; negative predictive value (NPV) 0.98 vs. 0.98; positive likelihood ratio (LR+) 10.18 vs. 9.41; negative likelihood ratio (LR-) 0.09 vs. 0.11. The optimal diagnostic performance was obtained at 3 h using cut-offs cTnI >43 ng/L plus cTnI change from admission ≥18.5 ng/L: sensitivity 0.90, specificity 0.96, PPV 0.81, NPV 0.98, and LR+ 21.54. The area under the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve for cTnI whole blood baseline value and absolute change after 3 h curve was 0.93. CONCLUSIONS: These data support the clinical usefulness of Minicare cTnI within a 0 h/3 h-blood sampling protocol supported by current guidelines for the evaluation of suspected ACS.