Abstract
The assessment of patients with acute myocardial infarction has undergone major changes in the past decade. These changes have involved advances in diagnosis, management, and therapy. New noninvasive techniques also have been introduced to determine prognosis more precisely, including quantification of ventricular impairment and myocardial damage. This review will focus on advances in the diagnosis of myocardial infarction. Despite the wide array of cellular enzymes, only three have been used routinely in the diagnosis of myocardial infarction, namely, SGOT, LDH, and CK. Despite the historic signficance of KSGOT, it will not be discussed. SGOT has been shown to be insensitive and, owing to its ubiquitous distribution, nonspecific; therfore, it should not be included in the diagnostic armamentarium of myocardial infarction. The routine enzymatic assessment of myocardial infarction should include total LDH and CK and their isoenzymes. In view of the recent interest in myoglobin, it also will be discussed briefly.