Highly sensitive troponin assays — a two-edged sword?

Nedkoff, Lee J; Hobbs, Michael S T; Briffa, Tom G

doi:10.5694/mja12.11446

Topics

To the Editor: Scott and colleagues address the vexed issue of using highly sensitive (hs) cardiac troponin (cTn) assays to detect myocardial infarction (MI) and likely increases in hospitalisations.1 Greater numbers of MIs detected by hs-cTn assays also confound population surveillance of MI trends and our understanding of disease prevention.

Cardiovascular Research Group, School of Population Health, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA.

Correspondence: lee.nedkoff@uwa.edu.au

Competing interests:

No relevant disclosures.

1. Scott IA, Cullen L, Tate JR, Parsonage W. Highly sensitive troponin assays — a two-edged sword? Med J Aust 2012; 197: 320-323. <MJA full text>
2. Koukkunen H, Penttila K, Kemppainen A, et al. Differences in the diagnosis of myocardial infarction by troponin T compared with clinical and epidemiologic criteria. Am J Cardiol 2001; 88: 727-731.
3. Rosamond WD, Chambless LE, Heiss G, et al. Twenty-two year trends in incidence of myocardial infarction, coronary heart disease mortality, and case fatality in 4 US communities, 1987-2008. Circulation 2012; 125: 1848-1857.
4. Sanfilippo FM, Hobbs MST, Knuiman MW, et al. Can we monitor heart attack in the troponin era? Evidence from a population-based cohort study. BMC Cardiovasc Disord 2011; 11: 35.
5. Nedkoff L, Briffa T, Preen D, et al. Age- and sex-specific trends in the incidence of hospitalized acute coronary syndromes in Western Australia. Circ Cardiovasc Qual Outcomes 2011; 4: 557-564.

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