The Alere Triage Cardioprofiler assesses patients with chest pain to quickly determine whether they are suffering acute coronary syndrome (ACS), without the need for a lengthy medical assessment.
Patients presenting symptoms of what appears to be acute coronary syndrome (ACS) account for 5-10 per cent of hospital emergency cases, and up to a quarter of all hospital admissions.
To reduce the risk of an adverse cardiac event, most patients undergo a lengthy medical assessment, but 75-85 per cent of these are not diagnosed with ACS2-4.
In order to manage these patients effectively and lessen the burden placed on critical resources, emergency departments and hospitals require a reliable rapid diagnostic test that identifies patients at low risk of a serious cardiac event and enables their early discharge.
A large, multinational study recently published in The Lancet describes a new, two-hour protocol that employs the Alere Triage Cardioprofiler to assess patients presenting symptoms of chest pain.
The study was carried out in 14 urban emergency departments across the Asia-Pacific region and the accelerated diagnostic protocol (ADP) consisted of using a Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) pre-test probability score, an electrocardiograph and results from the Alere Triage Cardioprofiler.
This is a point-of-care panel that measures troponin, creatine kinase MB, myoglobin and BNP to determine risk for a serious cardiac event.
3,582 consecutive patients, aged 18 years and older and suffering from at least five minutes of chest pain, were recruited for the study and completed a 30-day follow-up.
The ADP, made possible by the receipt of accurate cardiovascular biomarker results within 20 minutes, classified 352 (9.8 per cent) patients as low-risk and suitable for early discharge.
Of these patients, three (0.9 per cent) experienced a major cardiac event, giving the ADP a sensitivity of 99.3 per cent and a negative predictive value of 99.1 per cent.
Previous rapid protocols have been developed for chest-pain presenters, but these involve a patient assessment that lasts for at least six hours after the onset of symptoms.
Alere claims this new two-hour protocol could significantly reduce the burden on emergency departments and hospital resources, allowing earlier discharge for the majority of patients.
The Alere Triage Cardioprofiler is available in select markets throughout the world and enables physicians to obtain accurate measurements of the cardiac biomarkers described in the Lancet study within 20 minutes.
