A new way to define heart attacks will be presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2012 in Munich on 25 August.
It will introduce a third universal definition of myocardial infarction (MI) and clarify the controversial area of procedural-related MI; and it will aim to be the benchmark for diagnosis and clinical trial endpoints.
The event will also look at how politicians could influence lifestyle changes to prevent cardiovascular disease.
Professor Michael Böhm, chairperson of the ESC Congress Programme Committee, said this year's event would present lots of scientific developments particularly in the day's Hot Line sessions.
He said: "These are some of the most exciting sessions in the cardiovascular calendar and will influence future treatment of heart disease."
Nirk Kirwan, assistant director of protection at the Association of British Insurers (ABI), said there would be no specific look at the ESC developments.
He said: "There is a healthy debate going on about this as there should be. And the use of troponin enzyme tests is something medical professionals are placing increasing importance on.
"The good news from a claims management point of view is that the number of borderline cases that are harder to define in this way is very small. "
Many industry opinions argue the increasingly sensitive troponin tests create grey areas when it comes to definition of heart attacks and claiming.
Kirwan said an update on the definition could possibly involve more clarity around those case types.
He said the ABI short-term focus rather was on existing policyholders and managing claims easily and clearly against the current definition.
"The transformation is far from complete in the medical world with troponin tests so we will update the definition at a more stable time," Kirwan said.
He added a definition change could be announced in the next statement of best practice review in 2014.
The ABI confirmed to COVER in June that it was working on changing its MI definition to keep up to date with developments.
