title: Prediction of long-term outcome by measurement of serum concentration of cardiac troponins in critically ill dogs with systemic inflammation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Myocardial injury, detected by cardiac troponin I and T (cTnI and cTnT), has been associated with long-term death in the noncardiac human intensive care unit (ICU).
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Presence of myocardial injury predicts 1-year case fatality in critically ill dogs with systemic inflammation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-eight dogs with evidence of systemic inflammation and no primary cardiac disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective cohort study. In dogs admitted to the ICU with evidence of systemic inflammation, blood samples were obtained at ICU admission for measurement of cTnI and cTnT, and cTnI was measured once daily during ICU hospitalization. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to examine prognostic capacity of admission cTnI, admission cTnT, and peak cTnI concentrations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One-year case fatality rate was 47% (18/38 dogs). Admission cTnI concentrations were (median [range]) 0.48 [0.004-141.50] ng/mL, and peak cTnI concentrations were 1.21 [0.021-141.50] ng/mL. Admission cTnT concentrations were 15 [<13-3744] ng/L. For each marker, non-survivors had significantly higher concentrations than survivors (P = .0082-.038). ROC analyses revealed areas under curves [95% CI] of 0.707 [0.537-0.843] for peak cTnI and 0.739 [0.571-0.867] for admission cTnT, respectively. At the optimal cut-off, concentrations were 1.17 ng/mL (peak cTnI) and 23 ng/L (admission cTnT), sensitivities were 72% and 72%, and specificities were 70% and 80%, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  While peak cTnI and admission cTnT are significantly related to 1-year case fatality in critically ill dogs with systemic inflammation, low sensitivities and specificities prevent their prediction of long-term outcome in individual patients. Troponins might play a role in identification of dogs at long-term risk of death.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Clinical and Animal Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Frederksberg C, Denmark.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Langhorn
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Thawley
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Oyama
authors.forename: L G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: King
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Machen
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Trafny
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Willesen
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Tarnow
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kjelgaard-Hansen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis; D004285:Dogs; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis; D018746:Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000662:veterinary*; D019210:Troponin I / Q000097:blood*; D020107:Troponin T / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D019210:Troponin I; D020107:Troponin T
keywords: Biomarker; Companion animals; Intensive care unit; Myocardial injury; Prognostic significance