A novel point-of-care (POC) rapid blood test to diagnose or rule out a myocardial infarction (MI) test was found to be safe and could reduce length of stay in emergency departments for some patients, according to results from the WESTCOR-POC study presented at ESC Congress 2024 in London.

Researchers in Norway randomized 1,494 adult patients (median age of 61 years; 43% women) with symptoms suggestive of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) to receive either the novel POC test with a turn-around time of eight minutes (n=728) or conventional central lab testing (n=766), which is done using two blood samples taken at presentation and 1-3 hours later with a turn-around time of approximately 60 minutes.

Results showed the median length of stay in the emergency department was similar at 174 minutes for the POC testing group compared with 180 minutes in the conventional group. The percentage of patients discharged within three hours and six hours, as well as the total length of stay, were also similar across both groups. Safety was also similar across both groups, with no significant differences in the combined rates of death, MIs and acute revascularizations withing 30 days.

However, among patients who were seen within 60 minutes by a physician, the researchers found that POC testing reduced the length of stay in the emergency department by 15 minutes (147 minutes vs. 162 minutes, respectively). They also noted that POC testing provided the most benefit for patients diagnosed with NSTEMI, shortening the emergency department stay by an average 43 minutes.

"POC troponin assays hold great promise to improve patient care. But our findings underscore the need for a process to map out and address obstacles to efficient patient flow, such as lack of relevant staff or lack of efficient discharge procedures, to realize the full potential of POC tests to manage chest pain patients in the emergency department," said lead author Kristin Aakre, MD. "Future research should focus on the utility and implementations of these tools in out of hospital settings."