An estimated 17.9 million people died from CVDs in 2019, representing 32% of all global deaths. Acute Myocardial infarction (AMI, heart attack) is responsible for approximately 42 percent of all deaths from cardiovascular disease. Heart attacks occur when the blood supply to an area of the heart is blocked by a blood clot or atherosclerosis (fatty deposits or plaques lining vessel walls), causing heart tissue to die. Rapid diagnosis and treatment to restore blood flow through the affected vessel are vital to save as much of the heart tissue as possible.

Conventional diagnostic markers for AMI are elevated (only for 6-24 hours) after the heart attack and are of less value in predicting the disease development/progression at early asymptomatic stages.