Diagnostic and prognostic value of heart-type fatty acid-binding protein in the early hours of acute myocardial infarction.

Background Heart-type fatty acid-binding protein (H-FABP) is a cytosolic protein that is released into the bloodstream when the myocardium is injured. The aim was to determine the diagnostic and prognostic value of H-FABP in patients with suspected acute myocardial infarction (AMI) within the fi rst 3-6 hours after the onset of chest pain.Methods and results A consecutive series of 165 patients with chest pain lasting less than 6 hours were enrolled in a forward observational design in the emergency department. The diagnostic validity of H-FABP was evaluated according to sensitivity, specifi city, and predictive values, likelihood ratios, ROC curves, and multivariate logistic regression analyses. The prognostic value of H-FABP at 6 months was checked using survival curves and the multivariate Cox proportional hazards model.The sensitivity of H-FABP was 81% (95% CI: 69.2-92.9). Its area under the ROC curve: 0.729 (95% CI: 0.63-0.83) and negative likelihood ratio (0.38; 95% CI: 0.22-0.65) were signifi cantl...