Troponin T

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Cardiac troponin T is a cardio-specific, highly sensitive marker of myocardial damage. 

 

Clinical indications:

• Cardiac troponin T increases rapidly after acute myocardial infarction (AMI). 
• The diagnosis of non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) relies heavily on measurement of troponin. 
• Troponin T is an independent prognostic marker which can predict outcomes of patients with acute coronary syndrome. To distinguish between acute and chronic elevations, the Universal definition of AMI requires serial sampling to observe a rise and/ or fall above the 99th percentile. 
• Chronic elevations can be detected in clinically stable patients such as those with ischaemic or non-ischaemic heart failure
• Forms of cardiomyopathy
• Renal failure
• Sepsis 
• Diabetes

 

Specimen type: 

• Blood

 

Sample type: 

• Serum

 

Turnaround time: 

• Urgent: 2 hours 
• Inpatient: 24 hours 
• Outpatient: 24 hours  
• GP: 24 hours 

 

Reference interval:

• 99th percentile: <14 ng/L (Quoted by the manufacturer)
• Please refer to Chest Pain Pathway (https://tinyurl.com/ACSFlowchart)

 

Limitations:

• Analysis should not be performed on haemolysed, icteric or lipaemic samples.
• The assay is unaffected by biotin < 82 nmol/L or < 20 ng/mL.
• No interference was observed from rheumatoid factors up to a concentration of 1200 IU/mL.
• Samples should not be taken from patients receiving therapy with high biotin doses (i.e. > 5 mg/day) until at least 8 hours following the last biotin administration. In vitro tests were performed on 16 commonly used pharmaceuticals. No interference with the assay was found. 
• In addition, special cardiac drugs were tested. No interference was found. 
• In rare cases, high titres of antibodies to analyte specific antibodies, streptavidin or ruthenium can occur. 
• Falsely depressed results are obtained when using samples with haemoglobin concentrations > 0.1 g/dL.