Troponin I is a predictor of acute cardiac events in the immediate postoperative renal transplant period.
BACKGROUND
Patients on the renal transplant waiting list and renal transplant recipients have an increased risk of premature cardiovascular (CV) disease and death.


METHODS
We performed a prospective observational study in 331 kidney or kidney-pancreas transplant recipients to test whether Troponin I (TnI), determined at time of engraftment, can help to identify patients at risk for a major adverse cardiac event (MACE) in the immediate postoperative period. Logistic regression analysis was used to test if pretransplant TnI is a predictor of MACE within 3 months after transplantation.


RESULTS
Eleven patients (3.3%) developed a MACE during the first 2 weeks after transplantation. In patients with a CV history (23.6%), the incidence of MACE increased to 13.4%. In univariate analysis, age (odds ratio [OR] 1.062, P=0.04), TnI (OR 1.12, P=0.0042), HbA1c (OR 1.879, P=0.0076), and CV history (absent vs. present OR 0.027, P=0.0006) were associated with MACE. TnI remained an independent predictor after adjusting for every other significant variable. When we restricted the analysis to patients with a CV history, TnI was the only statistically significant variable associated with MACE.


CONCLUSIONS
Elevated TnI, immediately pretransplant, is an independent predictor of MACE in the immediate posttransplant period, particularly in patients with CV history.
Department of Nephrology and Transplantation, University Hospitals Gasthuisberg, Leuven, Belgium. Kathleen.Claes@uz.kuleuven.ac.be
Kathleen
K
Claes
Bert
B
Bammens
Pieter
P
Evenepoel
Dirk
D
Kuypers
Willy
W
Coosemans
Tom
T
Darius
Diethard
D
Monbaliu
Jacques
J
Pirenne
Yves
Y
Vanrenterghem
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018579:Patient Selection; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000097:blood* / Q000453:epidemiology; D011184:Postoperative Period; D011446:Prospective Studies; D019210:Troponin I / Q000097:blood*; D055815:Young Adult
D019210:Troponin I; D002097:C-Reactive Protein