Objective To evaluate the diagnostic value of human heart-type fatty acid-binding protein for early detection of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Methods Studies involving this biomarker were identified from MEDLINE, EMbase, CBM and VIP (1970 to 2006). Relevant journals (1980 to 2006) were also handsearched. The quality of the included studies was assessed using the QUADAS tool. Data extraction and analysis were conducted by software of EXCEL2003 and Metadisc. Results We included 13 studies, which were heterogeneous (P=0, I2=58.5%). Five studies (n=396) included in the group assessed the test at the first three hours after chest pain onset. These studies were homogeneous (P= 0.49, I2=0). The pooled sensitivity was 0.86 ( 95%CI 0.80 to 0.91), the pooled specificity was 0.76( 95%CI 0.80 to 0.91), and the area under the curve was 0.88 (SE=0.032 3). In the group of 0 to 6 hours after chest pain onset, 10 included studies (n=1 175) were heterogeneous (P=0, I2=69%). The pooled sensitivity was 0.86 (95%CI 0.83 to 0.89), the pooled specificity was 0.79 (95%CI 0.76 to 0.82), and the area under the curve was 0.92 (SE=0.019). In the group of 6 to 12 hours after chest pain onset, 4 included studies (n=215) were homogeneous (P=0.56, I2=0). The pooled sensitivity was 0.97 (95%CI 0.91 to 0.99), the pooled specificity was 0.52 (95%CI 0.42 to 0.61), and the area under the curve was 0.810 with (SE=0.152 2). In the group of 0 to 12 hours after chest pain, 11 included studies (n=1 352) were heterogeneous (P=0.56, I2=59%). The pooled sensitivity was 0.88 (95%CI 0.84 to 0.89), the pooled specificity was 0.75 (95%CI 0.71 to 0.78), and the areas under the curve was 0.91 (SE=0.016 4). Conclusions In this systematic review, we found that H-FABP has an acceptable diagnostic accuracy within 3 hours after the onset of symptoms, and within 12 hours after the onset of symptoms, H-FABP has a high diagnostic efficacy. So H-FABP may be a new symbol for the early diagnosis of AMI.
Objective To compare the diagnostic accuracy of different combination regimens of myocardial infarction markers in diagnosing acute myocardial infarction; and to estimate the effect of heart-type fatty acid-binding protein (H-FABP) in improving the diagnostic accuracy of the combinations. Methods Patients with acute onset of chest pain were included randomly. Serum concentrations of H-FABP and other biochemical markers for myocardial infarction (cTnI, Myo) were determined immediately, and then acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients were defined according to the WHO criteria. ROC curves for three biochemical markers were established respectively, and the cutoff values of the three markers were determined accordingly. Three combination regimens of myocardial infarction markers for AMI diagnosis were designed: cTnI+Myo, cTnI+H-FABP, cTnI+H-FABP+Myo. Diagnostic accuracy of the three regimens were then calculated and compared. Results The AUCs for the three biochemical markers were AUCcTnI 0.938 (95%CI: 0.888-0.988), AUCMyo 0.743 (95%CI: 0.651-0.836), and AUCH-FABP 0.919 (95%CI: 0.873-0.964), respectively. AUCH-FABP was significantly larger than AUCMyo (Plt;0.01). The cutoff values of the three biochemical markers for diagnosing AMI were defined as CutoffcTnI 0.5 ng/mL, CutoffMyo 90 ng/mL, and CutoffH-FABP 5.7 ng/mL, respectively. The diagnostic accuracy of these markers and their combination regimens were calculated and presented as follows (cTnI, Myo, H-FABP, cTnI+Myo, cTnI+H-FABP, cTnI+Myo+H-FABP): sensitivity: 0.804, 0.674, 0.783, 0.957, 0.957 and 0.957; specificity: 0.966, 0.747, 0.954, 0.724, 0.92 and 0.724; diagnostic efficacy: 0.910, 0.722, 0.895, 0.805, 0.932 and 0.805, respectively. Compared with the combination of cTnI+H-FABP, the sensitivities of cTnI (Z=2.261, P=0.024), Myo (Z=3.497, Plt;0.001) and H-FABP (Z=2.478, P=0.013) were significantly lower; the specificities of Myo (Z=3.062, P=0.002), cTnI+Myo (Z=3.378, Plt;0.001) and cTnI+Myo+H-FABP (Z=3.378, Plt;0.001) were significantly lower; and the diagnostic efficacies of Myo (Z=4.528, Plt;0.001), cTnI+Myo (Z=3.064, P=0.002) and cTnI+Myo+H-FABP (Z=3.064, P=0.002) were significantly lower. Conclusion The combination regimen of cTnI+H-FABP which includes H-FABP as the sensitive marker seems to be more effective than the currently used combinations in diagnosing AMI in patients with acute onset of chest pain.