Early detection of myocardial infarction by an immunoradiometric procedure for creatine kinase MB.

I investigated the diagnostic efficacy of the Embria-CK immunoradiometric assay (IRMA) in detecting myocardial infarction, using a single blood sample drawn at hospital admission 0 to 10 h after the onset of chest pain and serial testing over a 24- to 48-h interval after hospital admission. The sensitivity, specificity, and efficiency for hospital admission samples were 87.5, 83.3, and 85.0%, respectively, and for serial testing, 100, 79.2, and 87.5%, respectively. The diagnostic efficacy was comparable to that of electrophoresis and significantly better than the Du Pont CK-MB method.