Clinical chemistry
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Initial reports suggest that concentrations of high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) (Roche Diagnostics Elecsys(®)) below the limit of blank (LoB) (3 ng/L) or limit of detection (LoD) (5 ng/L) of the assay have almost 100% negative predictive value (NPV) for acute myocardial infarction (AMI), particularly among patients without electrocardiograph (ECG) evidence of ischemia. We aimed to prospectively validate those findings. ⋯ Our findings confirm that patients with nonischemic ECG and undetectable hs-cTnT at presentation have a very low probability of AMI, although the proportion of patients affected was smaller than in previous research.