Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is one of the most common causes of death world-wide. In the USA alone, about 700,000 people die because of AMI each year. Appropriate treatment options are available, but are often initiated too late.
A major reason is the difficult triaging of suspected AMI patients. In many cases the symptoms are non-specific and the ECG does not provide clear evidence. Several biochemical markers are currently used as AMI indicators.
Myoglobin is highly sensitive, but has a low specificity. Troponin T, Troponin I, and CK-MB are highly specific, but provide insufficient sensitivity during the early phase after an infarction. Thus, it often takes hours until a proper diagnosis is available.
CardioDetect™ overcomes this problem. Using the new infarction marker h-FABP (heart-type fatty acid-binding protein) it facilitates a reliable triaging soon after the beginning of symptoms.
