J GAWINECKA¹, D SUH¹, D HOF², D KELLER LANG³, A VON ECKARDSTEIN<sup>1

1</sup>Institute of Clinical Chemistry, University Hospital Zurich, Rämistrasse 100, 8091 Zurich, ²Unilabs Dübendorf, Ringstrasse 12, 8600 Dübendorf, ³Interdisciplinary Emergency Department, University Hospital Zurich, Rämistrasse 100, 8091 Zurich

Measurement of cardiomyocyte injury biomarker, preferably high sensitive cardiac troponin (hs-cTn), complements clinical assessment and resting 12-lead ECG in the diagnosis, risk stratification and therapy of patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) recommends 0 h /3 h NSTEMI rule-out algorithm using hs-cTn assays in the assessment of patients with acute chest pain, where absolute change in hs-cTn level over three hours is evaluated in conjunction with chest pain and clinical presentation [1]. Due to the short turnaround time, point-of-care (POC) tests may facilitate faster managing and triaging patients out of the emergency department. However, POC tests for cTn are not yet as thoroughly evaluated as fully automated cTn assays which form the basis of current ESC guidelines. Therefore, this study aims at:
1) assessment of the diagnostic performance of POC tests for cTn according to the 0 h/3 h NSTEMI rule-out algorithm [1] and in comparison with two fully automated laboratory tests (hs-cTnT Elecsys and hs-cTnI Architect)
2) assessment of the analytical quality of POC tests to classify their clinical utility according to the scorecard designations proposed by F.S. Apple [2]
3) evaluation of user-friendliness
Following POC tests for cTn are included in this evaluation: Triage Cardio with Next Generation TnI (Alere), AQT90 FLEX TnI and TnT (Radiometer), Pathfast TnI (Mitsubishi), and Stratus TnI (Siemens).