Sex differences of troponin test performance in chest pain patients.

Background: Current guidelines recommend troponin as the preferred biomarker to diagnose acute myocardial infarction (AMI) irrespective of the patient's sex. Recent reports have shown that sex-specific cut-offs should be considered but studies investigating sex-differences in the diagnostic accuracy of cardiac troponins are sparse.

Objective: To evaluate whether the diagnostic performance of cardiac troponin at admission (cTn) under routine conditions is influenced by patient's sex.

Chief complaints in medical emergencies: do they relate to underlying disease and outcome? The Charité Emergency Medicine Study (CHARITEM).

Objectives: To evaluate the relationship between chief complaints and their underlying diseases and outcome in medical emergency departments (EDs).

Methods: All 34 333 patients who attended two of the EDs of the Charité Berlin over a 1-year period were included in the analysis. Data were retrieved from the hospital information system.

[Contrast echocardiography for detection of incomplete rupture of the left ventricle after acute myocardial infarction].

Myocardial rupture is a major complication after acute myocardial infarction. With complete rupture of the free left ventricular wall cardiac tamponade occurs with fatal outcome in most cases. With partial rupture, however, hemorrhage is slower, allowing days or weeks for diagnosis.