title: Significance of serum cardiac troponin I levels in pulmonary embolism.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Some biomarkers can be helpful in the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism (PE) and determining of severity and prognosis of the disease. In this study, we aimed to analyze the elevated cardiac troponin I (cTnI) levels and its association with electrocardiography (ECG) and transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) findings in patients with PE.
  
  
  METHODS
  Totally 106 patients with suspected PE were included in the study. PE was confirmed in 63 of them, whereas it was excluded in the remaining 43 patients. Levels of cTnI were measured in all patients before the prescription of the anticoagulation therapy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  High cTnI levels were found in 50.8% of patients with PE, and in 11.6% of patients without PE (P<0.001). Sensitivity and specificity of the test for the diagnosis of PE were 50.7%, 88.3% respectively. ECG findings were similar in PE patients having either elevated or normal cTnI levels. Approximately 75% of the PE patients with high cTnI had normal ECG findings; the most common pathological changes seen in ECG were S1Q3T3 pattern (~31%). TTE findings were not found to be distinguishing in the patients with suspected PE and high cTnI levels. Pulmonary hypertension (PHT) was the most common echocardiographic finding (~74%) in patients with PE and elevated cTnI levels. However, there was not a statistically significant difference between TTE findings in PE patients with increased and normal cTnI levels.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In patients presenting with clinical, electrocardiographic and echocardiographic features suggesting pulmonary embolism, increased serum cTnI levels endorse the diagnosis of severe PE.
authors.affiliation: Nafiz Kurt Bafra Public Hospital, Department of Chest Diseases, Samsun, Turkey;
authors.forename: Gonca
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kilinc
authors.forename: Omer Tamer
authors.initials: OT
authors.lastname: Dogan
authors.forename: Serdar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Berk
authors.forename: Kursat
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Epozturk
authors.forename: Sefa Levent
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Ozsahin
authors.forename: Ibrahim
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Akkurt