Objective: To explore troponin testing yield in patients who present to the ED without chest pain.
Methods: A retrospective medical record audit of all patients who presented to ED in November 2018 and had troponin measured.
Results: A total of 1124 troponin assays were performed in 763 patients, 48.7% had no documented chest pain; 8.8% of these met high-risk criteria and 1.1% were diagnosed with acute coronary syndrome.
Conclusions: Despite ED troponin testing in the absence of chest pain being common practice, it rarely assisted in a meaningful diagnosis. Consequences of testing may include delays to patient discharge and additional downstream testing.
Keywords: acute coronary syndrome; troponin; unnecessary testing.
© 2020 Australasian College for Emergency Medicine.