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Selected Quotes from the ACC/AHA Guidelines4
The Important Role of Serum Cardiac Markers
Because serum cardiac markers released into the blood in response to ischemia can help detect injury to the myocardium, the laboratory plays an essential role in rapidly and accurately identifying patients at risk.
" The ready availability of serum cardiac marker measurements in most hospitals, coupled with significant advances in techniques for rapidly measuring markers that rise into the abnormal range in less than 6 hours (e.g., Myoglobin, CK-MB isoforms, cardiac specific troponin T and I) now enable clinicians to diagnose or exclude MI in uncertain cases within 8 to 12 hours from onset of chest discomfort."
The ACC/AHA Guidelines for the Management of Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction established the following criteria for an ideal serum cardiac marker of MI:4
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The marker should be present early and in high concentration in the myocardium and should be absent from nonmyocardial tissue and serum |
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The marker should be rapidly released into the blood at the time of the myocardial injury |
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There should be a stoichiometric relation between the plasma level and the extent of myocardial injury |
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The marker should persist in blood for a sufficient length of time to provide a convenient diagnostic time window |
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Measurement of the marker should be easy, inexpensive, and rapid |
" Use of such rapid biochemical techniques has been shown to reduce length of stay in CCUs, and clinicians are encouraged to assess their current laboratory testing protocols with a goal of more accelerated decision making." 4
View more about the latest practice guidelines:
ESC/ACC
ACC/AHA
NACB
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