Researchers from the UK have devised a novel and practical 4 component screening tool to diagnose silent myocardial infarction MI in patients with type 2 diabetes which had significantly superior diagnostic accuracy than current electrocardiogram ECG criteria to detect silent MI in asymptomatic patients. The test had an 82 sensitivity and 72 specificity for silent MI. The study included 100 patients with type 2 diabetes who had no history of known heart disease and were asymptomatic. These patients underwent ECG echocardiography biomarker assessment and cardiac Magnetic resonance imaging MRI including assessment of left ventricular ejection fraction and late gadolinium enhancement. The four parameters included in the screening tool were age E A ratio global longitudinal strain GLS and N terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide NT proBNP . The optimum cut off measures for these components were Age 8805 62 years E A ratio 8804 0.7 GLS of at least 18.4 and NT proBNP 29 ng L. Seventeen patients with no history of heart disease had silent MI defined by late gadolinium enhancement in an infarct pattern on cardiac MRI. Only four patients with silent MI had Q waves on ECG. All patients who scored 0 or 1 were free of MI. Of the 16 patients who scored 4 seven had experienced a silent MI and nine had not. Patients with silent MI were older had lower E A ratio lower GLS and higher NT proBNP levels. The findings of the study were presented at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes EASD 2016 Annual Meeting in Munich Germany.