title: Cardiac biomarkers and acute coronary syndromes--the Euro Heart Survey of Acute Coronary Syndromes Experience.
abstract: AMIS: To examine the application of the redefinition of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) published on 4 September 2000.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The Euro Heart Survey of Acute Coronary Syndromes (ACS) prospectively surveyed 10484 patients in 103 hospitals across 25 European and Mediterranean basin countries during 4 September 2000 to 15 May 2001. We evaluated the use of cardiac troponin assays and whether the diagnosis of unstable angina (UA) or AMI was in accordance with the results of biomarker assays (cardiac troponins, CK-MB mass, CK-MB%, or CK). Troponin assays were used in 6036 (63.3%) of the 9538 patients with available biomarker levels; of whom elevated troponin levels were recorded in 648 of 2307 (28.1%) patients with UA and in 2957 of 3729 (79.3%) patients with AMI. Of the 8871 patients with available creatine kinase values, levels above the upper limit of normal were recorded in 848 of 3625 (23.4%) patients with UA and in 3948 of 5246 (75.3%) patients with AMI.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Cardiac troponin assays are still not universally available for the evaluation of ACS patients. A substantial proportion of ACS patients receive a diagnosis of UA or AMI, irrespective of the result of biomarker assays, indicating that the redefinition of AMI has not yet been universally adopted, and that additional efforts are warranted to ensure its appropriate implementation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Rabin Medical Center, Petah Tikva, Israel. dhasdai@post.tau.ac.il
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hasdai
authors.forename: Solomon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Behar
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Boyko
authors.forename: Nicholas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Danchin
authors.forename: Jean-Pierre
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Bassand
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Battler
mesh_terms: D000789:Angina, Unstable / Q000175:diagnosis; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003402:Creatine Kinase / Q000097:blood; D005060:Europe; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014336:Troponin / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D014336:Troponin; D003402:Creatine Kinase