Heart-Type Fatty Acid Binding Protein: A Better Cardiac Biomarker than CK-MB and Myoglobin in the Early Diagnosis of Acute Myocardial Infarction.

BACKGROUND

Early diagnosis and therapeutic intervention can improve the outcome of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). However, there are no satisfactory cardiac biomarkers for the diagnosis of AMI within 6 hours of onset of symptoms. Among novel biochemical markers of AMI, heart-type fatty acid binding protein (H-FABP) is of particular interest.

AIM

To compare the diagnostic value of H-FABP with that of CK-MB and myoglobin in suspected AMI patients within first 6 hours after the onset of symptoms.

SETTINGS AND DESIGN

The study includes 40 AMI cases and 40 non-cardiac chest pain otherwise healthy controls. The cases and controls were further divided into 2 groups depending on the time since chest pain as those subjects within 3 hours and those between 3-6 hours of onset of chest pain.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In all the cases and controls, serum H-FABP, CK-MB and myoglobin concentrations were measured by Immunoturbidimetric method, immuno-inhibition method and Chemiluminescence immunoassay respectively.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

Data is presented as mean ± SD values. Differences between means of two groups were assessed by Student t-test. Sensitivity, Specificity, Positive predictive value, Negative predictive values were calculated and ROC curve analysis was done to assess the diagnostic validity of each study parameter.

RESULTS

The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV of H-FABP were greater than CK-MB and myoglobin and ROC curve analysis demonstrated highest area under curve for H-FABP followed by myoglobin and CK-MB in patients with suspected AMI both within 3 hours and 3-6 hours after the onset of chest pain.

CONCLUSION

The diagnostic efficiency of H-FABP is greater than CK-MB and myoglobin for the early diagnosis of AMI within first 6 hours of chest pain. H-FABP can be used as an additional diagnostic tool for the early diagnosis of AMI.