Roche has announced that its improved CARDIAC point-of-care Troponin T test for the cobas h 232 system is now available for countries accepting the CE Mark. The test allows healthcare professionals to identify patients with a suspected acute myocardial infarction (AMI), with greater accuracy, in just 12 minutes.

This hand-held, point-of-care diagnostic system requires no sample preparation. Therefore, it can be used in places where heart attack patients are often seen first, such as in an ambulance, emergency room, or a primary care/general practitioner's office.

The additional benefit of the improved test is that it is a quantitative test with higher accuracy (40-2000ng/L), making it possible to measure Troponin T levels ≥ 50ng/L, to rule-in patients with a suspected AMI and triage them effectively. This approach is endorsed by the preHAP clinical study, which showed that pre-hospital patients with a suspected AMI and a POC Troponin T ≥ 50ng/L had a 3-10 times higher long-term mortality risk.

"Point-of-care diagnostics solutions play an integral role in an effective, sustainable healthcare, and their importance will further increase. The introduction of this improved test enables health care professionals to make earlier and more accurate interventions to save patients' lives," said Mr Roland Diggelmann, chief operating officer, Roche Diagnostics Division.

Based on the test results, high risk patients may immediately be sent directly to a cardiac catheterization laboratory, where diagnostic imaging equipment can visualize the arteries of the heart and allow health care professionals to make the appropriate interventions. Lower risk patients can be sent to the hospital ward for further investigation. This approach helps save time, costs and potentially lives by reducing the time to correct treatment; facilitating the direct admission of patients to hospitals with the necessary testing equipment.

"Portable, accurate and easy-to-use, the CARDIAC point-of-care Troponin T test allows frontline healthcare providers to quickly make confident decisions where to send patients for treatment", said Mr Jean-Claude Gottraux, head, Roche Professional Diagnostics.

The CARDIAC point-of-care Troponin T test is standardized and compatible with central lab testing. After initial POC testing to diagnose patients in the ambulance (or GP's office), it can then be combined with a later test using the Elecsys cardiac Troponin T high-sensitive (cTnT-hs) test, at the central laboratory in a hospital. This means Roche can offer a diagnostic solution that covers from the assessment of pre-hospital and hospital patients, with a suspected AMI, to the treatment decision.