Patent ID: 7449338

Claim:
A method of detecting the occurrence or non-occurrence of an ischemic event in a patient comprising the steps of: (a) contacting a biological sample containing albumin from said patient with a predetermined excess quantity of a salt of a metal selected from the group consisting of V, As, Co, Cu, Sb, Cr, Mo, Mn, Ba, Zn, Ni, Hg, Cd, Fe, Pb, Au and Ag, to form a sample mixture containing metal ions bound to the albumin and unbound metal ions, (b) contacting said sample mixture with an aqueous color forming compound solution to form a colored sample mixture, wherein said compound forms color when bound to said unbound metal ion, (c) measuring color intensity of said colored sample mixture on an analyzer, (d) (i) providing one or more calibrators selected from the group consisting of: albumin N-terminal peptides and metal ions; full-length albumin, albumin N-terminal peptides and metal ions; chelating agents; and albumin N-terminal peptides; (ii) adding metal ions to said one or more calibrators thereby permitting formation of sequestered and in some cases, unbound metal ions, (iii) adding the coloring compound that binds to unbound metal ions, if any, and (iv) measuring color intensity of the product of step (d)(iii) on the analyzer and generating a standard curve, and (e) comparing the measured color intensity of the colored sample mixture to a known value on the standard curve to determine the occurrence or non-occurrence of an ischemic event.