Troponin Blood Test
Reviewed
A troponin test measures a heart-muscle protein released into blood when heart muscle is injured.
Preparation and collection
This is often an urgent test and needs no fasting delay. Tell the clinical team when symptoms began and about kidney disease, recent procedures, strenuous exercise, and medicines.
Understanding this test
Use the reference interval and units printed by the laboratory that performed the test. A result outside that interval is not a diagnosis by itself, and a result inside it does not rule out every condition. Your symptoms, history, medicines, timing, and related tests can change what the result means.
- Assay type, sex-specific limits, kidney dysfunction, timing, and serial change can alter interpretation.
- Many conditions besides coronary blockage can raise troponin.
What to do next
Emergency teams integrate serial troponin values with ECGs, examination, imaging, and the clinical probability of acute coronary syndrome or another cause.