Diagnostic performance of thrombin generation assay in patients with acute myocardial infarction

Thrombin generation (TG) assays have been developed to assess the overall coagulability of blood, as thrombin plays a pivotal role in hemostasis and thrombosis. Although increased TG has been associated with acute myocardial infarction (MI) in some previous reports, the results have been inconsistent. This study aimed to evaluate TG in platelet-poor plasma specimens from patients with confirmed acute MI.

In this case-control study, we enrolled a total of 50 patients diagnosed with acute MI using convenience sampling, along with 50 healthy individuals. TG assays were performed in both groups, and the calculated TG indices were compared.

Forty-one patients with confirmed acute MI (24 males, 17 females; mean age 62.7±14.9 years) and 50 healthy controls (40 males, 10 females; mean age 57.5±12.9) were included in the analysis. TG assay indices were not significantly different in acute MI patients compared to healthy subjects (p >0.05). In terms of the diagnostic utility of TG assays, a five-variable panel yielded an AUC of 0.659 [95% CI: 0.547-0.770, P=0.010], with a sensitivity of 65.9% and specificity of 62% for identifying acute MI.

All TG parameters taken together appear to have a predictive value in detecting acute MI. However, further studies with larger sample sizes are needed to confirm this finding.