| Characteristics of an ideal cardiac biomarker |
| High sensitivity |
| High concentration in myocardium after myocardial injury |
| Rapid release for early diagnosis |
| Long half-life in blood for late diagnosis |
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| High specificity |
| Absent in non-myocardial tissues |
| Not detectable in blood of non-diseased subjects |
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| Analytical characteristics |
| Measurable by cost-effective assay |
| Simple to perform |
| Rapid turnaround time |
| Sufficient precision and trueness |
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| Clinical characteristics |
| Ability to influence therapy |
| Ability to improve patient outcome |
