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VIDEO: Lack of high-sensitivity troponin assay availability creates disconnect between guidelines
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ORLANDO, Fla. — Venugopal Menon, MD, director of the coronary care unit at the Cleveland Clinic and professor of medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, discusses concerns surrounding troponin testing after a session dedicated to the topic at the annual American Heart Association Scientific Sessions.
“Troponin testing has become ubiquitous … as a reliable marker for cardiac necrosis,” he said. “However, as it’s become more and more sensitive, we’ve had issues emerge in how we measure it.”
Menon provides an overview of current U.S. and European guidelines for troponin testing in context of assay availability and sensitivity, highlighting the drastic differences between tests that “rule in” vs. “rule out” MI.
He details how the high-sensitivity assays offer greater prognostic value not only in patients with stable CAD and ACS, but people without symptoms.
“This has certainly generated a lot of controversy and is a great area for research,” Menon said.