Point-of-Care Troponin Testing in the Emergency Department

The goal of this study is to evaluate whether a POC-guided testing strategy to exclude non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) in acute chest pain patients presenting at the emergency department (ED) can result in a shorter length of stay compared to the routine central laboratory testing strategy. Currently, most often two high-sensitivity troponin (hs-cTn) tests are required for exclusion of NSTEMI, and central laboratories are struggling to achieve the recommended turnaround time of 60 minutes. Novel POC hs-cTn testing technology can provide results in minutes, potentially reducing the ED length of stay. This may lead to a reduction in ED crowding, which is a growing worldwide healthcare problem, resulting in poorer patient outcomes. This study may therefore improve patient burden, ED staff workload, and lead to more efficient expenditure of healthcare resources. We will perform a prospective, cross-sectional, interventional, single-center, open label, randomized trial. All consecutive patients older than 18 years and younger than 75 years presenting at the UZ Leuven emergency department with chest pain or chest pain-equivalent symptoms suspected of an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) will be invited to participate in the study. After informed consent patients will be randomized into the point-of-care testing (POCT) group or the usual care group. Patients in the POCT group will undergo the novel POC test-guided strategy. In the POC strategy the first hs-cTnI test shortly after admission to the ED will be performed on the POC Atellica VTLi. The second test will be performed with the usual central laboratory hs-cTnT test. Patients in the usual care group will undergo the usual testing strategy with one or two hs-cTnT tests performed in the hospital's central laboratory.