ABSTRACT

Acute myocardial infarction is a condition that develops due to the blockage of blood flow to the heart. Serial electrocardiography follow-up should be performed in patients with suspected acute myocardial infarction, serum cardiac troponin levels should be measured, and this measurement should be repeated at regular intervals. Cardiac troponins are the main markers for the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction, as they are sensitive and specific biochemical markers of myocardial cell necrosis. Elevated levels of cardiac troponins indicate cardiac damage, but it does not explain the cause of the damage. Increases in cardiac troponin levels can be observed in many different disease states and do not necessarily indicate acute myocardial infarction. It is necessary to check cardiac troponin levels in a patient admitted to the hospital in order to exclude other diseases before establishing the diagnosis of myocardial infarction. The one-hour “rule-in” and “rule-out” algorithms are used in the tests performed on patients who come to the emergency department with non-ST elevation myocardial infarction. In addition, there are point-of-care cardiac troponin tests that can be used in emergency services and ambulances. However, while using point-of-care cardiac troponin tests for the diagnosis of myocardial infarction, it should be kept in mind that these tests are less sensitive and more costly than tests performed in central laboratories.

Keywords: Myocardial infarction, acute coronary syndrome, troponin