[Relation between intermediate troponin T values and diagnosis of cardiac disease].
OBJECTIVE
Troponins are useful tools in management of patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Small increases do not guarantee a desirable precision (CV < 10%) and there is a "grey zone" between 99 percentile and clinical cut off. Our objective was to evaluate if "grey zone" troponin values reflect heart damage or they are only "analyzer noise".


METHODS
Final diagnoses of patients with "grey zone" values attended during 2001 and 2002 were reviewed (group Tn). Control group (Cn): patients with negative values (four months randomly chosen during the same period). Admitted patients were classified in: A, ACS; B, non ischemic heart disease, and C, non heart disease.


RESULTS
Tn group (n = 521): admitted, 330 (63.3%); A (53.9%), B (30.9%), C (15.2%). Cn group (n = 652): admitted, 156 (23.9%); A (41%), B (24.4%), C (34.6%). Odds ratio for admittance (Tn vs Cn) was 4.82 (95% CI, 3.68-6.31); OR for diagnosis A, B and C (Tn vs Cn) were: A (1.56) (95% CI, 1.04-2.34), B (1.43) (95% CI, 0.90-2.25), C (0.38) (95% CI, 0.24-0.6).


CONCLUSIONS
Intermediate troponin values are associated with diagnosis of heart disease, especially ACS.
Muñoz Pérez
Mar
M
Servicio de Bioquímica, Hospital Severo Ochoa, Leganés, Madrid, España. mmunoz.hsvo@salud.madrid.org
Mancebo Aragoneses
Lourdes
L
Arpa Fernández
Ana
A
de Ancos Aracil
Cristina
C
D000368:Aged; D000787:Angina Pectoris / Q000097:blood*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000097:blood; D020107:Troponin T / Q000097:blood*
D015415:Biomarkers; D020107:Troponin T