Coronary disease & ACSDiagnostic or prognostic study

Comparison of the European Society of Cardiology 0/1-Hour and High-Sensitivity Troponin in the Evaluation of Patients With Suspected Acute Coronary Syndrome 0/2-or-0/3-Hour Algorithms for Rapid Myocardial Infarction Diagnosis

J Am Coll CardiolPublished

  • Diagnostic accuracy study
  • prospective
  • international
  • multicentre
  • central adjudication
  • external validation

Final diagnoses centrally adjudicated by 2 independent cardiologists

Authors' conclusion

Overall, both algorithms exhibited comparable and excellent performance. When using hs-cTnI, the ESC-0/1h-algorithms showed higher sensitivity, whereas the High-STEACS 0/2h-0/3h-pathways demonstrated higher efficacy. Consistently, the ESC 0/1h-algorithms showed higher specificity for NSTEMI.

Study context

Population
Patients presenting to the ED with acute chest discomfort; 3 high-sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTn) assays (hs-cTnI-Architect, hs-cTnI-Centaur/Atellica, hs-cTnT-Elecsys)663 (14.2%) NSTEMI type 1
Participants
4,663 patients
Comparison
ESC 0/1h-algorithm vs High-STEACS 0/2h-0/3h-pathway
Outcome
NSTEMI type 1

Performance

As reported in the abstract

NSTEMI type 1 (hs-cTnI-Architect)
Test or modelSensitivityRuled outSensitivity (0/2h)Ruled out (0/2h)
ESC 0/1h-algorithm100% (95% CI: 99.4-100)52%
High-STEACS 0/2h-0/3h-pathway98.1% (95% CI: 96.7-99)72.5%
  • ESC 0/1h-algorithm vs High-STEACS 0/2h-0/3h-pathway: P < 0.001 — sensitivity, hs-cTnI-Architect
  • ESC 0/1h-algorithm vs High-STEACS 0/2h-0/3h-pathway: P < 0.001 — proportion ruled out, hs-cTnI-Architect

Further findings

High-STEACS 0/3h-pathways and external validation cohort

Findings confirmed with 0/3h-pathways and in external validation cohort (n = 2,485)

Original publication

Comparison of the European Society of Cardiology 0/1-Hour and High-Sensitivity Troponin in the Evaluation of Patients With Suspected Acute Coronary Syndrome 0/2-or-0/3-Hour Algorithms for Rapid Myocardial Infarction Diagnosis. J Am Coll Cardiol. Published 18 February 2026. doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2025.12.056

Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it