Troponin is a blood test that requires a few millilitres of blood from a vein. The timing of the test is also important; to be reliable it needs to be taken at least 6 to 12 hours after the onset of chest pain or other symptoms.
Troponin testing has become an important and frequently-used component of the medical evaluation of patients with chest pain, in hospitals as well as in the outpatient setting. The main role of the test is to exclude a heart attack (myocardial infarction) in patients who have a normal or non-diagnostic ECG (electrocardiogram). Other symptoms that may be suggestive of a heart attack (in the right circumstances) include shortness of breath, sweating, nausea or vomiting, and palpitations (increased awareness of a rapid or irregular heartbeat).
Troponin T and Troponin I are proteins found only in heart muscle tissue. Although there are some medical conditions in which troponin is slightly raised without damage to heart muscle (notably, chronic renal impairment - kidney failure - especially in patients on dialysis), troponins are normally not detectable in the bloodstream.
A “negative” Troponin test is a “good” result, and refers to a normal test, where the protein is not detected in the blood. Some doctors also consider a normal troponin test to put a patient in a lower risk category for any serious cardiac events within the following few weeks. Ocassionally, an unexpected “positive” Troponin test means that a patient will need to remain in hospital for a longer period of time, or will be called in to hospital for admission or further evaluation.
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