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Heart Disease In The News New definition will make number of heart attacks
climb Late last year (just in time for Dick Cheney to have his cardiac problem,) doctors changed the way they define myocardial infarction (heart attack). The new definition includes changes in the cardiac enzyme troponin. Troponin is a more sensitive indicator of heart cell damage than the traditional cardiac enzyme used for diagnosing heart attacks (i.e., MB CK levels). By including changes in troponin levels in defining "heart attack," many more patients who would previously been diagnosed as having unstable angina will now be diagnosed as having a heart attack. This is what happened in the case of Dick Cheney in November, 2000. Estimates are that, thanks to these new criteria, an additional 250,000 patients in the U.S. will be diagnosed with heart attacks this year. |
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