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Objectives: To assess the impact of point-of-care testing (POCT) for troponin I (cTnI) measurement on the time to anti-ischemic therapy (TAIT) for patients with suspected non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS) presenting to the emergency department (ED). Methods:This was an open-label, randomized, single-center trial conducted in a university-affiliated hospital. cTnI measurement of patients with suspicion of NSTE-ACS coming to the ED was randomly allocated to POCT or central hospital laboratory testing (CHLT). The authors compared patients' baseline characteristics, time to anti-ischemic therapy, and medical outcomes between the randomized groups, in all study participants and in high-risk NSTE-ACS (cTnI level ‡ 0.10 lg ⁄ mL), and in those with low suspicion ACS (no chest pain and no ST deviation).Results: Of the 860 patients enrolled, 113 were high-risk NSTE-ACS patients, including 53 (46.9%) allocated to POCT and 60 (53.1%) to CHLT. POCT was associated with decreased time to anti-ischemic therapy of about three-quarters of an hour, which was due to a shorter time to physician notification of cTnI level, in both all and subgroup participants. In contrast, neither ED length of stay nor medical outcomes differed between study groups.Conclusions: Point-of-care testing for cTnI measurement might be clinically relevant for ED patients with a suspicion of NSTE-ACS, particularly for high-risk patients with a low suspicion of ACS. ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE 2008; 15:216-224 ª 2008 by the Society for Academic Emergency MedicineKeywords: point-of-care systems, coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction, emergency medicine, troponin, randomized controlled trials R apid diagnosis of patients with high-risk non-ST elevation acute coronary syndromes (NSTEACSs) may be critical, as recent findings suggest that adverse outcomes increase with increasing time to coronary angiography and related treatment.1-3 The key components of risk stratification are patient symptoms,