Early detection of myocardial infarction—microRNAs right at the time?

Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is the major cause of death and disability worldwide and the risk of death is highest within the first hours from chest pain onset (1). Hence, an early and accurate diagnosis of AMI in patients presenting with chest pain is of paramount importance for effective treatment and improvement of outcome prognosis (2). In addition to the clinical symptomatic, electrocardiographic and imaging findings, the rise or fall of cardiac troponins, released from the damaged cardiomyocytes, are important biomarkers for the diagnosis of AMI (2). However, troponins can also be released in other cardiac pathologies, such as myocarditis, and chest pain is often misunderstood or difficult to allocate by the patient. Therefore, novel biomarkers are needed to fine-tune AMI diagnosis and potentially enable personalized treatment in the future.