• Bertrand Renaud, Patrick Maison, Alfred Ngako, Patrick Cunin, Aline Santin, Jérôme Hervé, Mirna Salloum, Marie-Jeanne Calmettes, Cyril Boraud, Virginie Lemiale, Jean Claude Grégo, Marie Debacker, François Hémery, and Eric Roupie.
• Structure des Urgences, AP-HP, Albert-Chenevier-Henri Mondor, Créteil, France. bertrand.renaud@hmn.aphp.fr
• Acad Emerg Med. 2008 Mar 1;15(3):216-24.

ObjectivesTo assess the impact of point-of-care testing (POCT) for troponin I (cTnI) measurement on the time to anti-ischemic therapy (TAIT) for patients with suspected non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS) presenting to the emergency department (ED).MethodsThis was an open-label, randomized, single-center trial conducted in a university-affiliated hospital. cTnI measurement of patients with suspicion of NSTE-ACS coming to the ED was randomly allocated to POCT or central hospital laboratory testing (CHLT). The authors compared patients' baseline characteristics, time to anti-ischemic therapy, and medical outcomes between the randomized groups, in all study participants and in high-risk NSTE-ACS (cTnI level >or= 0.10 microg/mL), and in those with low suspicion ACS (no chest pain and no ST deviation).ResultsOf the 860 patients enrolled, 113 were high-risk NSTE-ACS patients, including 53 (46.9%) allocated to POCT and 60 (53.1%) to CHLT. POCT was associated with decreased time to anti-ischemic therapy of about three-quarters of an hour, which was due to a shorter time to physician notification of cTnI level, in both all and subgroup participants. In contrast, neither ED length of stay nor medical outcomes differed between study groups.ConclusionsPoint-of-care testing for cTnI measurement might be clinically relevant for ED patients with a suspicion of NSTE-ACS, particularly for high-risk patients with a low suspicion of ACS.

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