Effectiveness of Point-of-Care High-Sensitivity Troponin Testing in the Emergency Department: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Abstract
STUDY OBJECTIVE
To compare the effectiveness of high-sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTn) point-of-care testing to central laboratory hs-cTn measurements when investigating patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) with symptoms of acute coronary syndrome.
METHODS
The WESTCOR point-of-care study was a single-center prospective randomized controlled trial where we randomized patients presenting with possible acute coronary syndrome in a 1:1 fashion to receive either 0/1-hour centralized hs-cTnT measurements (control) or 0/1-hour point-of-care hs-cTnI testing (intervention). We defined length of stay (LOS) in the ED as the primary endpoint and the minimum clinically meaningful difference as 15 minutes.
RESULTS
We included 1,494 patients in the final analysis, 728 in the point-of-care group, and 766 in the control group. The median (interquartile range) age was 61 (22) years, and 635 (42.5%) were women. Median LOS in the ED was 174 (95% confidence interval [CI] 167 to 181) and 180 (95% CI 175 to 189) minutes in the point-of-care and control group, respectively, resulting in a reduction in median LOS of 6 minutes (95% CI -4 to 17). Acute myocardial infarction, death, or acute revascularization occurred in 83/728 (11.4%) of point-of-care and 72/766 (9.4%) of control patients.
CONCLUSIONS
We found that implementing point-of-care hs-cTnI testing in the ED with a 0/1-hour diagnostic algorithm did not lead to a clinically meaningful reduction in ED LOS. We observed no…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a randomized trial, done in people. Its evidence level is 2 of 5 (High · randomized trial). Randomized trials of a reasonable size are the strongest single-study design. Reported size: 1,494 participants or records.
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