Troponin assays are a relatively common laboratory diagnostic request in emergency medical admissions. Following cardiac injury these macromolecules diffuse into the cardiac interstitium with subsequent detection in the peripheral circulation. We have previously shown that a clinical decision to request high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hscTnT) was a prognostic marker and semi-quantitative mortality predictor in unselected emergency medical admissions [1]. Cardiac-specific troponins are useful because they convey prognostic information that can influence therapeutic decisions, [2] not alone for the diagnosis of acute coronary syndromes [3], but also in non-cardiac presentations [4-17].
