Real impact starts on the frontline

Published: 25 June 2026

Sometimes the medical breakthroughs with the biggest impact are simple changes made when people first arrive at the emergency department. Dr Martin Than and team have discovered a way to dramatically speed up the process when people present with chest pain.

When someone has a suspected heart attack, a sample of their blood is sent to a hospital laboratory where it's tested for (cardiac) troponin, a protein that's released when the heart muscle is damaged. Historically, it’s been a lengthy process with results taking one to two hours. 

Researchers at Christchurch Hospital, led by Dr Martin Than, have discovered a way to dramatically speed up the process, using a test that can be done near the bedside. 

Thanks to funding from the Heart Foundation and others, over the past decade, people with chest pain can now find out faster if they are having a heart attack. 

Dr Than’s work has revolutionised emergency cardiac care by enabling the safe, early discharge of low-risk patients. 

He was funded to investigate a new rapid troponin test that analysed blood on the spot using a small cartridge device. Some models can deliver results in just 15 minutes. 

In a study of nearly 60,000 emergency department (ED) patients across six New Zealand hospitals, those assessed using the rapid test were admitted to a ward or sent home an average of 47 minutes sooner – a 13% shorter stay on average, compared with standard lab testing. 

Follow-up over 30 days showed the rapid test was just as safe as the traditional test, with no increase in missed heart attacks or deaths. 

Faster results mean people who are not having a heart attack can be quickly reassured and safely sent home, while others can begin life-saving treatment sooner, reducing the risk of heart damage. 

“This project has shown that it is possible to safely free up precious staff time and ED space for other patients that need it, by providing test results and diagnostic clarity sooner for patients,” Dr Than says. 

The tests are already in use in a number of hospitals in New Zealand and are helping to tackle long waiting times for patients.  

In 2016 the Heart Foundation funded research by Associate Professor Dr John Pickering, to work on the wider project.  

He and his colleagues were involved in testing patients when they first arrived in the ED and collected data from around 120 patients in Canterbury. 

A Heart Foundation grant also funded a pilot study of a new chest-pain assessment process in rural Waikato in 2017.  

It saw low-risk patients in rural communities safely assessed and managed by their general practice, rather than travelling long distances to hospital. 

Lead researcher and project manager Tim Norman says: “We were able to equip general practice to care for the patient closer to home, referring to hospital when appropriate.” 

The project ran for 18 months and collected data from 205 patients. 

More than 58 per cent of patients in the trial group, who would otherwise have been referred to an emergency department, were treated in a general practice.  

100 % of the low-risk patients did not re-present to an emergency department or have a major acute coronary event, such as a heart attack, within 30 days. 

The following year, the Heart Foundation supported Dr Rory Miller, a University of Otago Senior Lecturer and Director of the Rural Postgraduate Programme, with a Project Grant. 

“As far as we know, this is the first study of its kind in a rural environment, anywhere in the world,” Rory said at the time. 

Today, the chest pain assessment pathway is now in action in many rural GP practices across New Zealand. It has also been adopted internationally, in Australia, the US, UK and Asia. 

Heart Foundation Medical Director Dr Gerry Devlin says there has long been a need for an improved process and tools to assess a person who presents at an ED with chest pain.  

“This world-leading research, led by Professor Than and the emergency doctors at Christchurch Hospital, gives confidence to patients, along with cardiologists and general practitioners working in urban and rural areas of New Zealand.”