EurekAlert -- New biomarkers significantly improve the early detection of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Recent studies reveal a novel and promising way for doctors to conclusively ensure that a patient is having or not having an AMI in a timely and accurate manner saving time and money. In the assessment of patients presenting with chest pain and suspected AMI doctors rely on detailed patient assessment, the ECG, and the measurement of cardiac troponins (specific markers for dying cells in the heart). AMI is the cause of death in more persons worldwide than any other disease. With effective treatment within our grasp, accurate and rapid diagnosis is of major medical and economic importance. With the development of blood tests depicting either cardiac troponin I or cardiac troponin T, the only current biomarkers thought to be unique to the heart, the diagnosis of AMI has been veritably revolutionised. In a patient presenting with chest pain, a rise in cardiac troponin has become a mandatory feature for the clinical diagnosis of AMI. Unfortunately, current cardiac troponin assays have one major limitation in common with their predecessor (CK-MB): it takes 3?? hours after symptom onset until cardiac troponin becomes detectable. This is a major problem for doctors and causes diagnostic uncertainty particularly in patients presenting within the first hours from chest pain onset.
