Cardiac Marker Changes
Cardiac markers are used in the diagnosis and risk stratification of patients with chest pain and suspected acute coronary syndrome (ACS). [1] The cardiac troponins, in particular, have become the cardiac markers of choice for patients with ACS. Cardiac troponin is central to the definition of acute myocardial infarction (MI) [2] in the consensus guidelines from the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and the American College of Cardiology (ACC). [3, 4, 5]
For a more comprehensive discussion of cardiac markers, see the Medscape article Cardiac Markers.
Table 1. Cardiac Marker Changes Over Time (Open Table in a new window)
Marker |
Onset (hours) |
Peak (hours) |
Duration |
Troponin I |
3-12 |
10-24 |
3-10 days |
Troponin T |
3-12 |
12-48 |
5-14 days |
Creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB) |
4-6 |
24 |
2-3 days |
Myoglobin |
2-4 |
6-12 |
24-36 hours |