Abstract: Objective: To investigate the clinical value of heart-type fatty acid-binding protein (H-FABP) in early diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Methods: Serum concentration of H-FABP was measured with latex agglutination assay in 105 cases of suspected AMI because of chest pain. Cardiac troponin I (cTnI), myoglobin (MYO) and creatine kinase isoenzyme MB(CK-MB) were detected simultaneously. According to final clinical diagnosis, patients were divided into AMI group (n=45) and non-AMI group (control group, n=60). Related data between the two groups was compared. Results: The concentration and positive rate of H-FABP, cTnI, MYO and CK-MB were (49.32±10.29) ng/mL and 84.4%, (1.62±0.76) ng/mL and 44.4%, (156.14±54.23) ng/mL and 82.2%, (13.01±6.08) ng/mL and 42.2%, respectively, and all were higher in AMI group than those in control group (P<0.05). The difference in positive rate between H-FABP and MYO in AMI group was not significant (P>0.05), however, the positive rate of H-FABP and MYO was significantly higher than cTnI and CK-MB (P<0.05). The specificity of H-FABP was similar to that of CK-MB (P>0.05), and both of them were lower than cTnI (P<0.05) and higher than MYO (P<0.05). The positive predictive value of H-FABP was equal to cTnI (P>0.05), and both of them were significantly higher than MYO and CK-MB (P<0.05). The negative predictive value between H-FABP and MYO was not significantly different (P>0.05), and both of them were significantly higher than cTnI and CK-MB (P<0.05). Combinedly, the sensitivity of H-FABP+ cTnI, H-FABP+ CK-MB, H-FABP+ MYO, H-FABP+ cTnI+MYO, H-FABP+ cTnI+CK-MB and H-FABP+ cTnI+MYO+CK-MB were all of 100.0%, and the specificity were 82.0%, 72.0%, 61.2%, 59.3%, 68.1% and 56.5%, respectively. Conclusions: H-FABP has a moderately high sensitivity and specificity for early diagnosis of AMI. Furthermore, H-FABP in combination with cTnI can significantly improve the efficacy in early diagnosis of AMI.

Key words: Heart-type fatty acid-binding protein, Cardiac troponin I, Creatine kinase isoenzyme MB, Myoglobin, Acute myocardial infarction