• John W Pickering, Martin P Than, Louise Cullen, Sally Aldous, Ewoud Ter Avest, Richard Body, Edward W Carlton, Paul Collinson, Anne Marie Dupuy, Ulf Ekelund, Kai M Eggers, Christopher M Florkowski, Yonathan Freund, Peter George, Steve Goodacre, Jaimi H Greenslade, Allan S Jaffe, Sarah J Lord, Arash Mokhtari, Christian Mueller, Andrew Munro, Sebbane Mustapha, William Parsonage, W Frank Peacock, Christopher Pemberton, RichardsA MarkAMFrom Christchurch Hospital, University of Otago Christchurch, and Christchurch Heart Institute, Christchurch, New Zealand; Queensland University of Technology and Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Herston, Queensland, Australia; Medical, Juan Sanchis, Lukas P Staub, Richard Troughton, Raphael Twerenbold, Karin Wildi, and Joanna Young.
• From Christchurch Hospital, University of Otago Christchurch, and Christchurch Heart Institute, Christchurch, New Zealand; Queensland University of Technology and Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Herston, Queensland, Australia; Medical Centre Leeuwarden, Leeuwarden, the Netherlands; Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom; Southmead Hospital, North Bristol NHS Trust, Bristol, United Kingdom; St. George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and St. George's University of London, London, United Kingdom; Hôpital Lapeyronie, Montpellier, France; Skåne University Hospital, Lund, Sweden; Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden; Sorbonne Université and Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, Paris, France; University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom; Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota; University of Notre Dame Australia, Darlinghurst, New South Wales, Australia; Universitätsspital Basel, Basel, Switzerland; Nelson Hospital, Nelson, New Zealand; Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas; National University of Singapore, Singapore; Universidad de Valencia, CIBERCV, Hospital Clínico Universitario, Valencia, Spain; and University of Sydney, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia.
• Ann. Intern. Med. 2017 May 16; 166 (10): 715-724.

BackgroundHigh-sensitivity assays for cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) are sometimes used to rapidly rule out acute myocardial infarction (AMI).PurposeTo estimate the ability of a single hs-cTnT concentration below the limit of detection (<0.005 µg/L) and a nonischemic electrocardiogram (ECG) to rule out AMI in adults presenting to the emergency department (ED) with chest pain.Data SourcesEMBASE and MEDLINE without language restrictions (1 January 2008 to 14 December 2016).Study SelectionCohort studies involving adults presenting to the ED with possible acute coronary syndrome in whom an ECG and hs-cTnT measurements were obtained and AMI outcomes adjudicated during initial hospitalization.Data ExtractionInvestigators of studies provided data on the number of low-risk patients (no new ischemia on ECG and hs-cTnT measurements <0.005 µg/L) and the number who had AMI during hospitalization (primary outcome) or a major adverse cardiac event (MACE) or death within 30 days (secondary outcomes), by risk classification (low or not low risk). Two independent epidemiologists rated risk of bias of studies.Data SynthesisOf 9241 patients in 11 cohort studies, 2825 (30.6%) were classified as low risk. Fourteen (0.5%) low-risk patients had AMI. Sensitivity of the risk classification for AMI ranged from 87.5% to 100% in individual studies. Pooled estimated sensitivity was 98.7% (95% CI, 96.6% to 99.5%). Sensitivity for 30-day MACEs ranged from 87.9% to 100%; pooled sensitivity was 98.0% (CI, 94.7% to 99.3%). No low-risk patients died.LimitationFew studies, variation in timing and methods of reference standard troponin tests, and heterogeneity of risk and prevalence of AMI across studies.ConclusionA single hs-cTnT concentration below the limit of detection in combination with a nonischemic ECG may successfully rule out AMI in patients presenting to EDs with possible emergency acute coronary syndrome.Primary Funding SourceEmergency Care Foundation.

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