title: The high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T assay is superior to its previous assay generation for prediction of 90-day clinical outcome in ischemic stroke.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cardiac troponin T (cTnT) has been reported to be a predictor of stroke outcome. We hypothesized that the high-sensitivity cTnT (hs-cTnT) assay is superior to its previous assay generation for stroke outcome prediction.
  
  
  METHODS
  cTnT was measured on emergency department admission in 60 consecutive patients (35 males, age 69.4 ± 13.9 years) with ischemic stroke. Adverse 90-day clinical outcome was defined as death or dependence (modified Rankin scale ≥ 3 or Barthel index < 75).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Stroke aetiology was microangiopathy in three, macroangiopathy in 17, cardiac embolism in 26, dissection in one and unknown in 13 patients. At 90-day follow-up 16 (27%) patients had an adverse outcome. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve analysis yielded a significantly better performance of hs-cTnT vs. cTnT (area under ROC curve: 0.80 [95% CI 0.68-0.89] vs. 0.70 [95% CI 0.57-0.82], p = 0.017). The optimal discriminator values according to ROC analysis were 5.1 ng/L (hs-cTnT assay) and 11 ng/L (4th generation cTnT assay) with: sensitivities 94% vs. 56%, specificities 57% vs. 84%, positive predictive values 44% vs. 56%, and negative predictive values 96% vs. 84%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Improvements in cTnT assay sensitivity and precision at the low measuring range resulted in a more accurate prediction of ischemic stroke outcome, particularly for ruling out worse outcome.
authors: Department of Neurology, Innsbruck Medical University, Austria.
authors: Martin
authors: M
authors: Furtner
authors: Thomas
authors: T
authors: Ploner
authors: Angelika
authors: A
authors: Hammerer-Lercher
authors: Raimund
authors: R
authors: Pechlaner
authors: Johannes
authors: J
authors: Mair
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D019963:Clinical Chemistry Tests / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007511:Ischemia / Q000150:complications*; D008297:Male; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism*; D011379:Prognosis; D012372:ROC Curve; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism*; D020107:Troponin T / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D020107:Troponin T