Doctors may soon be able to sort patients presenting with symptoms of acute MI into three risk categories, a study of a new clinical decision support tool suggests.

The Myocardial-Ischaemic-Injury-Index (or MI3) algorithm has been developed and tested by a group of international researchers and cardiologists, including Australians.

The algorithm gives each patient a score between 0 and 100 based on their age, gender and the results of two consecutive measurements of cardiac troponin I — the first performed on arrival in ED and the other at a flexible time thereafter.

Higher scores mean the patient has more risk of having had an MI.