Elevated Heart‐Type Fatty Acid‐Binding Protein Predicts Early Myocardial Injury and Aids in the Diagnosis of Non‐St Elevation Myocardial Infarction

Background Biomarkers play an important role in the early diagnosis, risk stratification and management of patients with the acute coronary syndrome. Objective The objective of this study was to evaluate the clinical reliability of heart‐type fatty acid‐binding protein (h‐FABP) in identifying patients with the acute coronary syndrome in the early hours of chest pain. Methods Creatine kinase (CK‐MB) (in laboratory), troponin T (in laboratory) and h‐FABP (with point‐of‐care test CardioDetect®) were performed on 791 patients who presented with chest pain with duration since onset ranging from 20 minutes to 12 hours. Results Data of the 791 patients were analysed. h‐FABP had a higher sensitivity of 75.76% and a specificity of 96.97% compared with 58.59% and 98.84% for troponin T and 68.69% and 97.54% for CK‐MB respectively (in the first 6 hours). Conclusion: h‐FABP was found to be a better biomarker of cardiac necrosis in the early hours in the diagnosis of non‐conclusive ECG in patients with acute myocardial infarction. (Hong Kong j.emerg.med. 2009;16:141–147)