Concerns Over New Cardiac Blood Test Spark Intense Twitter Discussion

–Cardiologists fear the new high sensitivity troponin test will lead to lots of unnecessary testing. Along with many other cardiologists, Sek Kathiresan (Massachusetts General Hospital and Broad Institute) is worried that a new and improved diagnostic test will have disastrous unintended effects. Kathiresan expressed his concern on Twitter yesterday in response to my summary of a…

Click here to continue reading…

Single Blood Test Rapidly Rules Out MI in Chest Pain

–New high-sensitivity troponin tests may ease perpetual ED dilemma Only a small percentage of emergency department chest pain patients turn out to have acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Now a new blood test can help identify a significant number of patients who are extremely unlikely to have AMI and who can therefore be safely discharged immediately….

Click here to continue reading…

Study Uncovers Confusion About When To Use An Important Heart Test

Appropriate use criteria (AUC) are designed to help make sure that medical procedures and interventions are performed in people most likely to benefit and, in turn, are not performed in people unlikely to gain benefit. Now a new study published in Annals of Internal Medicine suggests that the AUC for one very widely performed procedure, diagnostic cardiac catheterization, can provide…

Click here to continue reading…