The Yale journal of biology and medicine
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We examine the use of information theory applied to a single cardiac troponin T (cTnT) (first generation monoclonal; Boehringer Mannheim Corp., Indianapolis, Indiana) used with the character of chest pain, electrocardiography (ECG) and serial ECG changes in the evaluation of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). We combined a single measure of cTnT (blinded to the investigators) with a creatine kinase MB isoenzyme (CK-MB) measurement to discover the best decision value for this test in a study of 293 consecutive patients presenting to the emergency department with symptoms warranting exclusion of AMI. ⋯ Information theory provides a strong framework and methodology for determining the decision value for cTnT which minimizes misclassification errors at 0.1 ng/ml. The result has a strong correlation with other features in detecting AMI in patients presenting with chest pain.