Point of Care Cardiac Troponin Testing

Point of care cardiac troponin testing

Point of care testing of cardiac biomarkers is being increasingly used in the emergency care setting to enhance the triaging of patients presenting with chest pain and or breathlessness. One of these methods uses fluorescence labeled detector antibody in a test cartridge [1]. The intensity of fluorescence at test and control lines on the strip are obtained using a laser fluorescence scanner to measure the concentration of the biomarker. Diagnostic accuracy of point of care troponin evaluations have been reported in multiple publications as being fair [2,3]. There are also devices which can simultaneously test multiple biomarkers like cardiac troponin and B-type natriuretic peptide in the same sample, aiding in the early bedside diagnosis of myocardial infarction and heart failure.

References

1. Tae Kyum Kim, Sang Wook Oh, Soon Cheol Hong, Young Joon Mok, Eui Yul Choi. Point-of-Care Fluorescence Immunoassay for Cardiac Panel Biomarkers. J Clin Lab Anal. J Clin Lab Anal. 2014 Nov;28(6):419-27.
2. Deborah B Diercks, W Frank Peacock 4th, Judd E Hollander, Adam J Singer, Robert Birkhahn, Nathan Shapiro, Ted Glynn, Richard Nowack, Basmah Safdar, Chadwick D Miller, Elizabeth Lewandrowski, John T Nagurney. Diagnostic accuracy of a point-of-care troponin I assay for acute myocardial infarction within 3 hours after presentation in early presenters to the emergency department with chest pain. Am Heart J. 2012;163:74-80.e4.
3. Vikram Palamalai, MaryAnn M Murakami, Fred S Apple. Diagnostic performance of four point of care cardiac troponin I assays to rule in and rule out acute myocardial infarction. Clin Biochem. 2013;46:1631-5.