UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas pathologists are among the first researchers in the country to use a newly developed biochemical marker that reduces the time and improves the accuracy of diagnosing a heart attack. UT Southwestern was a clinical test site for the new marker, troponin I, and Keffer said only a handful, if any, additional North Texas hospitals currently have started using the test. He expects more medical centers to adopt the technology rapidly. Keffer presented a set of practice guidelines for biochemical markers to hospitals across the nation via a teleconference in May.
Markers are molecules that leak from the heart into the blood when a heart attack occurs.
Conventional tests, such as electrophoresis, long used in hospitals, may take as long as 10 to 12 hours to recognize a definite rise in the level of blood enzymes caused by cardiac arrest, while troponin may be detected in one to two hours after the patient arrives in the emergency room. There is no question about this, and evidence continues to build in support of this assertion. Time is critical in preventing damage to the heart muscle. Keffer said the new marker also appears to be more accurate than other tests. This marker differs from others because the protein that is measured by the test is unique to the heart muscle.