Diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction

The subject invention comprises a method for diagnosing a clinical event that occurs in a patient's tissue by conducting diagnostic tests on a patient sample obtained from a substance stream in contact with affected tissue. One of the diagnostic tests is an assay for a molecule released from the tissue during the clinical event, and another diagnostic test is an assay for a molecule that is present in the stream and is modified by the clinical event. The results of the assays are combined in an algorithm to provide a positive or negative diagnosis of the clinical event. In one embodiment, the clinical event is a myocardial infarction, the sample is blood or a component thereof, the molecule released from the affected tissue is a necrotic marker (e.g., troponin), and the modified molecule in the blood component is ischemia modified albumin. In another embodiment, the clinical event is an ischemic stroke, the sample is blood or a component thereof, the molecule released from the affected tissue is a necrotic marker (e.g., S1OOB), and the modified molecule in the blood component is ischemia modified albumin.