Temporal pattern of cardiac troponin I after thoracotomy and lung surgery.
BACKGROUND
Several studies have shown that patients with perioperative myocardial infarction (MI) are at higher risk for subsequent cardiac events and the identification of these patients is important. However, the diagnosis of perioperative MI can be difficult in many cases. The cardiac troponins are biomarkers with high cardiospecificity, and the aim of this study was to assess cTnI and cTnT among other cardiac biomarkers after thoracotomy and lung surgery.


METHODS
24 consecutive patients were included in the final analysis. Venous blood samples were drawn prior to the procedure, 1-3, 4-6, 16-18 and 30-32 h after surgery. Thoracotomy was performed as a standard posterolateral incision on the left or right side under general anesthesia.


RESULTS
Both cTnI and cTnT were completely unaffected by the thoracotomy and the lung surgery. Furthermore, no single value of the troponins was above the 99th percentile at any time. In contrast, CK-MB was elevated in nearly half the patients, although the mean values complied well with the reference limit. CK and myoglobin were both considerably elevated and did not discriminate between acute myocardial infarction and release of the markers due to extracardiac injury.


CONCLUSIONS
Only the troponins were unaffected by extracardiac surgery and were, thus, reliable markers of myocardial injury in patients who underwent thoracotomy and lung surgery. If the troponins are unavailable, CK-MB mass combined with the CK-MB/CK percentage should be preferred.
Vikenes
Kjell
K
Department of Heart Disease, Haukeland University Hospital, N-5021, Bergen, Norway. vike@haukeland.no
Andersen
Knut S
KS
Farstad
Mikael
M
Nordrehaug
Jan Erik
JE
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases / Q000378:metabolism; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D003402:Creatine Kinase / Q000378:metabolism; D052279:Creatine Kinase, MB Form; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007527:Isoenzymes / Q000378:metabolism; D007770:L-Lactate Dehydrogenase / Q000378:metabolism; D008168:Lung / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009206:Myocardium / Q000201:enzymology*; D009211:Myoglobin / Q000097:blood*; D011184:Postoperative Period; D013908:Thoracotomy; D013997:Time Factors; D019210:Troponin I / Q000097:blood*; D020107:Troponin T / Q000097:blood*
D015415:Biomarkers; D007527:Isoenzymes; D009211:Myoglobin; D019210:Troponin I; D020107:Troponin T; D007770:L-Lactate Dehydrogenase; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases; D003402:Creatine Kinase; D052279:Creatine Kinase, MB Form