Heart fatty acid binding protein. An early diagnostic marker of acute myocardial infarction in egyptian population

Introduction and aim: The newly emerging biomarker heart-type fatty acid-binding protein (H-FABP) was found to be sensitive for early diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). In this study, we investigated prosp-ectively the usefulness of H-FABP assessment in evaluation of patients presenting to the emergency department with acute chest pain. The aim was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of H-FABP (Heart-Fatty Acid Binding Protein) in detection of acute myocardial infarction compared to hs-Tn (high-sensitivity troponin) within the first 2 hours and after 2 hours of symptom onset. Methods: We included 200 patients admitted to the ED (emergency department) with acute chest pain. They were divided into 2 groups. Group 1 included 132 patients admitted with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) during the first 6 hours of chest pain, and Group 2 included 68 patients admitted with unstable angina (UA) and where considered a control group.. Blood samples for H-FABP and hs-Tn were taken and patients were regrouped according to the time of presentation (<2 hours and >2 hours) from the beginning of chest pain. Results: ROC (Receiver Operating Curve) analysis showed that within the first 2 hours, a H-FABP of ≥7.5 was 100% specific and around 90% sensitive while hs-Troponin was 100% specific and 41.7% in diagnosing STEMI. A H-FABP ≥6 was more sensitive but less specific for diagnosing STEMI during the same period of time (91% and 85%, respectively). H-FABP had an overall sensitivity and specificity of 92% to diagnose STEMI. Conclusion: H-FABP was found to be a highly sensitive biomarker for the early detection and diagnosis of AMI.