Visualisation and quantification of peri-operative myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery with contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate if elevated biochemical marker levels after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) correspond to the amount of peri-operatively infarcted myocardium, quantified by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) post-operatively.


RESULTS
A total of 23 patients without evidence of previous myocardial infarction or myocarditis and with normal pre-operative ECG and left ventricular function and who underwent elective, primary CABG, without any other concomitant cardiac surgery, were included. Plasma creatinine kinase MB (CK-MB) and troponin I and T were measured on the first, second and fourth post-operative days. Between the fourth and ninth post-operative days, cardiac MRI was carried out. Infarctions were found in 18 patients. The infarction mass at MRI was numerically largest in patients with transmural infarctions, all of whom had a CK-MB more than five times the upper normal limit. All three cardiac markers correlated to the mass of infarction.


CONCLUSIONS
Elevated biochemical markers after CABG correspond to the amount of peri-operatively infarcted myocardium.
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University Hospital, SE-751 85 Uppsala, Sweden. johnny.steuer@surgsci.uu.se
Johnny
J
Steuer
Tomas
T
Bjerner
Olov
O
Duvernoy
Lena
L
Jidéus
Lars
L
Johansson
Håkan
H
Ahlström
Elisabeth
E
Ståhle
Bertil
B
Lindahl
D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D003287:Contrast Media; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007430:Intraoperative Care / Q000379:methods; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery*
D015415:Biomarkers; D003287:Contrast Media