title: Patients with infective endocarditis and increased cardiac troponin I levels have a higher incidence of in-hospital mortality and valve replacement than those with normal cardiac troponin I levels.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the association of increased cardiac troponin I levels with in-hospital mortality and valve replacement in patients with infective endocarditis (IE).
  
  
  METHODS
  The 62 patients included 36 men and 26 women, with a mean age of 60 +/- 9 years, with IE diagnosed by the Duke criteria. All 62 patients had blood drawn for measurement of cardiac troponin I levels. A cardiac troponin I level >0.4 ng/ml was considered increased. All 62 patients underwent transesophageal echocardiography. Student's t tests were used to analyze continuous variables. chi(2) tests were used to analyze dichotomous variables.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Transesophageal echocardiography diagnosed valvular vegetations in 56 of the 62 patients (90%). Cardiac troponin I levels were increased in 35 of the 62 patients (57%). In-hospital mortality or valve replacement occurred in 18 of 35 patients (51%) with increased cardiac troponin I levels versus 4 of 27 patients (15%) with normal cardiac troponin I levels (p < 0.005).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients with IE and increased cardiac troponin I levels have a higher incidence of in-hospital mortality or valve replacement than those with normal cardiac troponin I levels.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tsenovoy
authors.forename: Wilbert S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Aronow
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Joseph
authors.forename: Magdaline S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Kopacz
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D004697:Endocarditis, Bacterial / Q000097:blood* / Q000401:mortality*; D005260:Female; D006349:Heart Valve Diseases / Q000382:microbiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery; D019918:Heart Valve Prosthesis Implantation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D012307:Risk Factors; D019210:Troponin I / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D019210:Troponin I