Serum levels of cardiac troponin I and troponin T in estimating myocardial infarct size soon after reperfusion.
BACKGROUND
Cardiac troponin I (TnI) and troponin T (TnT) are highly specific myocardial markers.


OBJECTIVE
To determine whether their serum levels can be used to estimate myocardial infarct size soon after reperfusion.


METHODS
We measured the serum levels of TnI, TnT, and creatine kinase every 3 h, and the serum cardiac myosin light chain I (MLCI) every 24 h, in 42 patients with acute myocardial infarction in whom reperfusion therapy had successfully been performed. We calculated the severity of regional hypokinesis by analyzing the follow-up ventriculograms with the centerline method.


RESULTS
The time from reperfusion to the peak level for TnI was 6.1 +/- 3.5 h, significantly shorter than those for creatine kinase (7.5 +/- 4.1 h) and MLCI (55 +/- 28 h). The time to peak level for TnT (6.8 +/- 4.0 h) differed significantly from that for MLCI but not from that for creatine kinase. There was a significant correlation between the peak levels of TnI and TnT (r = 0.86). The peak TnI and TnT levels were correlated well to the peak creatine kinase level (r = 0.67 and 0.69, respectively), total creatine kinase release (r = 0.66 and 0.66), and the peak MLCI level (r = 0.71 and 0.80). We observed excellent correlations between the peak levels of TnI and TnT, and regional hypokinesis (r = -0.84 and -0.85, respectively). These were comparable to the correlations between regional hypokinesis and the peak creatine kinase level (r = 0.75), total creatine kinase release (r = -0.72), and the peak MLCI level (r = -0.76).


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that the peak serum levels of TnI and TnT in patients with successful reperfusion are accurate and early indices of infarct size.
Tanaka
H
H
First Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kagoshima University, Japan.
Abe
S
S
Yamashita
T
T
Arima
S
S
Saigo
M
M
Nakao
S
S
Toda
H
H
Nomoto
K
K
Tahara
M
M
D015906:Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D003402:Creatine Kinase / Q000097:blood; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D015425:Myocardial Reperfusion; D018994:Myosin Light Chains / Q000097:blood; D015912:Thrombolytic Therapy; D013997:Time Factors; D014336:Troponin / Q000097:blood*; D019210:Troponin I / Q000097:blood*; D020107:Troponin T
D015415:Biomarkers; D018994:Myosin Light Chains; D014336:Troponin; D019210:Troponin I; D020107:Troponin T; D003402:Creatine Kinase