Recommendations for the use of cardiac troponin measurement in acute cardiac care

The release of cardiomyocyte components, i.e. biomarkers, into the bloodstream in higher than usual quantities indicates an ongoing pathological process. Thus, detection of elevated concentrations of cardiac biomarkers in blood is a sign of cardiac injury which could be due to supply-demand imbalance, toxic effects, or haemodynamic stress. It is up to the clinician to determine the most probable aetiology, the proper therapeutic measures, and the subsequent risk implied by the process. For this reason, the measurement of biomarkers always must be applied in relation to the clinical context and never in isolation. There are a large number of cardiac biomarkers, but they can be subdivided into four broad…