Heart-type fatty acid-binding protein in the early diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the diagnostic and prognostic role of heart-type fatty acid-binding protein (hFABP) compared with copeptin and in addition to high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) in patients with chest pain suspected of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). DESIGN: Diagnostic and prognostic performances of hFABP, copeptin and hs-cTnT were evaluated and compared. The final diagnosis was adjudicated by two independent cardiologists. SETTING: This prospective observational multicentre study took place in four primary and one secondary hospital from April 2006 to September 2009. PATIENTS: We enrolled 1247 consecutive patients with suspected AMI to the emergency department. For analysis, patients were included, if baseline levels for hs-cTnT and hFABP were available (n=1074), patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) were excluded for the diagnostic analysis (n=43). INTERVENTIONS: Treatment was left to the discretion of the emergency physician. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: AMI and mortality. RESULTS: 4% of the patients had STEMI and 16% of the patients had non-STEMI. Patients with AMI had significantly higher levels of hFABP at presentation (p<0.001). Neither the combination with hFABP nor with copeptin increased the diagnostic accuracy of hs-cTnT at admission, quantified by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) (p>0.05). The negative predictive value regarding 90-day, 1-year and 2-year mortality was 100% (99-100), 99% (98-100) and 98% (96-99), respectively, for hFABP levels below the median (p<0.001). The accuracy of hFABP to predict 90-day mortality was moderate (AUC 0.83; 95% CI 0.77 to 0.90). CONCLUSIONS: hFABP and copeptin do not improve the diagnosis of patients with chest pain without ST-segment elevation, but may be useful for risk stratification beyond hs-TnT.