The Value of Rapid Qualitative Troponin T Analysis in Diagnosis of Acute Myocardial Infarction and its Comparison with Quatitative Assay

The aim of the study is to compare the diagnostic efficacy of qualitative (ql) and quantitative (qn) troponin T (TnT) analyses in diagnosis of acute myocardial infaretion (AMI) and to determine the correlation of ql-TnT and qn-TnT assays. The study group was consisted of 146 patients (100 men, 46 women; m ean age: 57. 9± ll. 7 years) consequtively admitted to coronary care unit because of chest pain and/or AMI suspicion. Criteria of World Health Organization was approved for diagnosis of AMI. ql-TnT analysis was performed by using bedside disposible systems (TROPT Rapid Assay, Boehringer Mannheim). The cut-off value of this system was 0.2 ng/ml for positivity. qn-TnT analysis was realized with "ELOSA Troponin-T" (Boehringer Mannheim) kids by using automatic analysor (ES-300 Boehringer Mannheim). Test principle of qn assay was based on one-step sandwich enzyme immunassay. Mean admission time of patients was 26.7±40.5 hours (min-max: 1-240 hours). AMI was diagnosed in 77 of total 146 patients. qn-TnT values were 0.2 ng/ml or higher in 72 of 75 (96%) patients with qlTnT (+). Values of qn-TnT were measured below 0.2 ng/ml in 65 of (91.5%) of 71 patients w ith qlTnT (-). There w as a moderate in verse correlation 70 between time to positivity of ql test and quantitative values (r: -0.58). The mean TnT values of strong positive (positivity a first 10 minutes) and weak positive (positivity after first 10 minutes) groups were significantly different (7.1 I ±6.62 ng/ml and 0.83±0.73 mg/ml, respectively; pKeywords: Acute myocardial infarction, troponin T