NANO TECH CARDIAC

Cardiac troponin is well documented as the preferred biomarker for diagnosis of myocardial infarction due to its high sensitivity and specificity for myocardial injury. Evidence continues to show that troponin is emerging as one of the most powerful prognostic biomarkers for the assessment of cardiovascular risk in the general population. Over the past 10 years cardiac troponins T and I (cTnT and cTnI) have emerged as the cardiac biomarkers of choice for the diagnosis of Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI, heart attack). Although they are in clinical use in other parts of the world, including Europe, Canada, and Australia. There are no high sensitivity POC devices available for clinical practice in the “Golden Hour” which can compare with the growing use of these high sensitivity central laboratory cTnT and cTnI assays.

Laboratory analyzers and Point of Care tests are generally carried out by manipulating tagged magnetic assay beads and using optical technology to detect them. Large central laboratory analyzers use state of the art optical detection equipment during this process, have the capabilities to run confirmatory multiple tests simultaneously, and embody other techniques to achieve high sensitivity results. However, the major drawback is a slow turnaround time (TAT), when transport, testing and analysis times are taken into account. POC devices, due to their considerably smaller size, cannot effectively miniaturize the same technology. They are limited to optical detection of a lesser capability. In simple terms the assay beads are only viewed one or two dimensionally by the optical-sensing techniques and consequently only surface-visible beads are detectable. They are however regularly used because of their faster TAT, crucial when attempting to diagnose AMI, no other viable option being available when diagnosis time is so critical.