Outcomes after planned invasive or conservative treatment strategy in patients with non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome and a normal value of high sensitivity troponin at randomisation: A Platelet Inhibition and Patient Outcomes (PLATO) trial biomarker substudy.

Aims:Current guidelines for patients with non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS) recommend early invasive treatment in intermediate-to-high risk patients based on medical history, electrocardiogram (ECG) and elevated troponin. Patients with normal levels of cardiac troponin measured with a high-sensitivity method (cTnT-hs) might not benefit from early invasive procedures.Methods and results:In this Prospective Randomized Platelet Inhibition and Patient Outcomes (PLATO) blood-core substudy, 1232 patients presented with NSTE-ACS had a high sensitivity cardiac troponin T (cTnT-hs) level <99th percentile (<14 ng/l) at randomisation. The outcomes in relation to a planned invasive (n=473) vs planned conservative treatment (n=759), were evaluated by adjusted Cox proportional hazard analyses. In patients with a normal cTnT-hs at randomisation, regardless of randomised treatment, a planned invasive vs conservative treatment was associated with a 2.3-fold higher risk (7.3% vs 3.4%, p=0.0028) for cardio...