In recent years there has been mounting interest in the clinical use of circulating biomarkers for prediction of risk and diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases. High-sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTn) is one of these biomarkers. To date, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved an hs-cTn assay for use in the United States, but experts predict these tests (currently used in Europe) could be approved in the United States within the next year. Two new studies published in JAMA Cardiology show how new, high-sensitive assays can speed the time to rule in or rule out diagnosis of an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in patients presenting with chest pain and how the utility of this marker can be extended to evaluate risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) or heart failure (HF). For Diagnosis of Myocardial Infarction Patients with a possible AMI can be triaged within one hour after admission with no additional risk compared to the standard three-hour approach used in Europe, according to a study published online June 1 in JAMA Cardiology. The authors say that using a “low and sensitive” cutoff for hs-cTnI enables an accelerated diagnostic protocol resulting in either a safe discharge or more rapid treatment […]