title: Absolute neutrophil counts and fibrinogen levels as an aid in the early diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction.
abstract: A retrospective analysis of white blood cell (WBC) counts and fibrinogen levels was performed on 292 consecutive patients admitted to the emergency department for chest pain likely due to ischaemic heart disease. Aims of the study were to evaluate their utility in discriminating between cardiac and non-cardiac chest pain, and to identify those "chest pain-enzyme negative" patients who are at high risk of developing acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The results obtained showed that WBC (p < 0.0001) and fibrinogen (p < 0.0001) significantly discriminated AMI patients. However, only male gender (p < 0.03), abnormal CK-MB% (p < 0.0001) and neutrophil counts (p < 0.0001) were independently related to AMI. The combined determination of neutrophils and CK-MB% increased the sensitivity from 50% (for CK-MB% alone) to 70% (p < 0.05), with a negative predictive value similar to that observed for CK-MB% alone. These results suggest that determination of neutrophil counts might help to improve the accuracy of AMI diagnosis in emergency patients.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Terapia Medica, University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefania
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Basili
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Di Francoi
authors.forename: Antonello
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rosa
authors.forename: Patrizia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ferroni
authors.forename: Veronica
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Diurni
authors.forename: Maria Gabriella
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Scarpellini
authors.forename: Giuliano
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bertazzoni
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003402:Creatine Kinase; D052279:Creatine Kinase, MB Form; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D005340:Fibrinogen / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D007527:Isoenzymes; D007958:Leukocyte Count / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*; D009504:Neutrophils; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012737:Sex Factors
chemical_list: D007527:Isoenzymes; D005340:Fibrinogen; D003402:Creatine Kinase; D052279:Creatine Kinase, MB Form