Open Access Emergency Medicine (Oct 2020)

Diagnostic Performance of Point-of-Care Troponin I and Laboratory Troponin T in Patients Presenting to the ED with Chest Pain: A Comparative Study

  • Mohammad OH,
  • Naushad VA,
  • Purayil NK,
  • Sinan L,
  • Ambra N,
  • Chandra P,
  • Paramba FC,
  • Mohammad J,
  • Chalihadan S,
  • Varikkodan I,
  • Palol A

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 12
pp. 247 – 254

Abstract

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Osama H Mohammad,1 Vamanjore A Naushad,1 Nishan K Purayil,1 Laith Sinan,2 Naseem Ambra,1 Prem Chandra,3 Firjeeth C Paramba,1 Jassim Mohammad,4 Sajid Chalihadan,1 Irfan Varikkodan,1 Azeez Palol1 1Department of General Internal Medicine, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar; 2Glasgow Medical College, Glasgow, UK; 3Medical Research Center, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar; 4Accident & Emergency Department, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, QatarCorrespondence: Vamanjore A Naushad Department of General Internal MedicineHamad Medical Corporation, Doha 3050, QatarTel +974-55902242Email [email protected]: Chest pain is a common symptom in patients visiting the emergency department (ED). Diagnosing acute coronary syndrome is a challenging task for emergency physicians. Evaluation of chest pain depends on clinical symptoms and signs, ECG, and cardiac enzymes. Here, we aimed to compare the diagnostic performance of the point-of-care troponin I assay with laboratory HsTnT assay in patients presenting to the ED with chest pain.Methods: A prospective study was done at the ED of Alkhor Hospital, Hamad Medical Corporation, between March 2016 and December 2016. Patients more than 18 years old who presented to the ED with chest pain were enrolled. Patients with renal failure, initial ECG showing ST-elevation MI, or arrhythmias, and hemodynamically unstable patients were excluded. A blood sample was collected at 0 and 3 hours post-admission for POC TnI and laboratory HsTnT assay. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, and AUC were determined and compared.Results: Out of 313 patients enrolled, ten were excluded. At 0 hour, the POC TnI assay had a lower sensitivity (72.5% versus 97.5%) and had almost equal specificity (99.24% versus 93.2%) when compared to lab HsTnT assay. At 3 hours post-admission, the sensitivity increased to 95% versus 100%, and specificity was 100% versus 94.3% when compared to lab HsTnT. The POC TnI assay had a higher PPV than HsTnT, whereas both assays showed a high NPV at 0 and 3 hours.Conclusion: Although the diagnostic performance of POC TnI was lower than that of Lab HsTnT at 0 hour, at 3 hours post-admission, the diagnostic performance was almost equal to that of HsTnT. Hence we conclude that chest pain in patients with a negative POC TnI at 3 hours post-admission is unlikely to be due to NSTEMI.Keywords: point-of-care, POC, TnI, HsTnT, ED, chest pain, NSTEMI

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