title: Correlation of elevated troponin and echocardiography in acute ischemic stroke.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Previous research has revealed a higher prevalence of elevated cardiac troponin T or I levels amongst patients admitted with stroke, which has been associated with increased cardiovascular events, higher mortality rates, and poor inpatient prognosis. Because cardiac comorbidities account for almost 20% of deaths after ischemic stroke, it is important to understand the relationship between troponin elevation, cardiac events, and acute ischemic stroke (AIS).
  
  
  METHODS
  We evaluated 137 consecutive patients ≥ 18 years of age who presented within 48 hours of AIS onset. All patients had laboratory markers drawn on admission, including troponin and brain natriuretic peptide, along with transthoracic echocardiogram with Doppler. The mean age of our study population was 71.7 ± 14.6 years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-four of 137 patients (17.5%) had a positive troponin level. Sixteen of 24 (67%) patients with a positive troponin level had a new wall motion abnormality on echocardiogram that was suggestive of unstable atherosclerotic disease. On statistical analysis, we found a significant association between troponin and brain natriuretic peptide elevation with positive segmental wall motion abnormality on echocardiogram.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These study findings represent a new paradigm of interpreting elevated cardiac biomarkers and may help with risk stratification and diagnosis of patients presenting with AIS.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Loyola University Medical Center, Stritch School of Medicine, Maywood, Illinois. Electronic address: adarki@lumc.edu.
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Darki
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Schneck
authors.forename: Anoop
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Agrawal
authors.forename: Arti
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rupani
authors.forename: John T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Barron
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000097:blood* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D004452:Echocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020097:Natriuretic Peptide, Brain / Q000097:blood; D011379:Prognosis; D020521:Stroke / Q000097:blood* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014336:Troponin / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D014336:Troponin; D020097:Natriuretic Peptide, Brain