An international study led by National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) has found that one-hour tests for diagnosing a myocardial infarction are more accurate than more established algorithms that can take three hours or longer.
Lee Chien-chang (李建璋), a professor at NTUH’s Department of Emergency Medicine who led the study, shared its findings at a news conference in Taipei on Friday, after it was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine on Tuesday.
The 2020 European Society of Cardiology guidelines recommend using the 0/1-hour and 0/2-hour algorithms over the 0/3-hour algorithm, as the first and second choices for high-sensitivity cardiac troponin-based strategies for triage of patients with suspected acute myocardial infarction, the study said.
After analyzing 32 studies from 11 countries involving 30,066 patients, the study evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of the three algorithms.
With the 0/3-hour algorithm, which is more widely used in hospitals, people suspected to have had a myocardial infarction have to receive two cardiac troponin tests, one at the beginning and one after three hours, Lee said.
That means they have to wait longer in the emergency room, which not only makes the room more crowded, but exposes them to a higher risk of contracting diseases such as COVID-19, Lee said.
The team’s study found that, compared with the 0/1-hour and 0/2-hour algorithms, the 0/3-hour algorithm has a lower precision rate for myocardial infarction, he said.
While there is a popular notion in the medical field that the different algorithms only vary in their efficiency, the study found they are also pertinent to the safety of patients, he added.
With the 0/3-hour algorithm, up to 15 out of 1,000 patients with acute myocardial infarction could be misidentified as healthy, while the number drops to three when using the newer 0/1 and 0/2-hour procedures, Lee said.
New testing methods were launched a few years ago, and their use is covered by the National Health Insurance, so it would not be difficult to promote their use in more hospitals, he said.
The study is expected to trigger changes in the guidelines followed by emergency rooms and prompt more surgeons to adopt the new procedures, the hospital said.
Additional reporting by CNA
Organizing one national referendum and 26 recall elections targeting Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators could cost NT$1.62 billion (US$55.38 million), the Central Election Commission said yesterday. The cost of each recall vote ranges from NT$16 million to NT$20 million, while that of a national referendum is NT$1.1 billion, the commission said. Based on the higher estimate of NT$20 million per recall vote, if all 26 confirmed recall votes against KMT legislators are taken into consideration, along with the national referendum on restarting the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant, the total could be as much as NT$1.62 billion, it said. The commission previously announced
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday welcomed NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte’s remarks that the organization’s cooperation with Indo-Pacific partners must be deepened to deter potential threats from China and Russia. Rutte on Wednesday in Berlin met German Chancellor Friedrich Merz ahead of a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of Germany’s accession to NATO. He told a post-meeting news conference that China is rapidly building up its armed forces, and the number of vessels in its navy outnumbers those of the US Navy. “They will have another 100 ships sailing by 2030. They now have 1,000 nuclear warheads,” Rutte said, adding that such
Tropical Storm Nari is not a threat to Taiwan, based on its positioning and trajectory, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Nari has strengthened from a tropical depression that was positioned south of Japan, it said. The eye of the storm is about 2,100km east of Taipei, with a north-northeast trajectory moving toward the eastern seaboard of Japan, CWA data showed. Based on its current path, the storm would not affect Taiwan, the agency said.
The cosponsors of a new US sanctions package targeting Russia on Thursday briefed European allies and Ukraine on the legislation and said the legislation would also have a deterrent effect on China and curb its ambitions regarding Taiwan. The bill backed by US senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal calls for a 500 percent tariff on goods imported from countries that buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other exports — targeting nations such as China and India, which account for about 70 percent of Russia’s energy trade, the bankroll of much of its war effort. Graham and Blumenthal told The Associated Press
RSS