title: The role of ischemia modified albumin in acute pulmonary embolism.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Acute pulmonary embolism (PE) is a life-threatening and a relatively common cardiovascular pathology. Although the pathogenesis of PE is well defined, there is no ideal diagnostic biochemical marker. Previous studies showed an increased ischemia modified albumin (IMA) levels in acute PE; however, the relationship between IMA and right ventricular (RV) dysfunction has not been examined. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic value of IMA and the relationship with RV dysfunction in acute PE.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 145 patients (70 females) with suspected acute PE was enrolled to the study. Eighty-nine patients were diagnosed with acute PE via computed tomographic pulmonary angiography. Sixty-five patients with similar demographic and clinical characteristics were assigned to the control group. All patients were evaluated for RV dysfunction using transthoracic echocardiography.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Serum IMA levels were significantly increased in acute PE compared with control group (0.41 ± 0.06 vs. 0.34 ± 0.11, P = 0.001). There was no relationship between serum IMA levels and RV dysfunction. IMA levels were positively correlated with shock index and heart rate. Receiver operating curve analysis demonstrated that serum IMA levels higher than 0.4 put the diagnosis at sensitivity of 53.85% and at specificity of 85.96%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although IMA levels are increased in patients with acute PE, it failed to predict RV dysfunction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Mevlana University, Konya, Turkey.
authors.forename: Zeynettin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Kaya
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Meram School of Medicine, Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kayrak
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Meram School of Medicine, Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey.
authors.forename: E E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Gul
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Meram School of Medicine, Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Altunbas
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Meram School of Medicine, Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Toker
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Mevlana University, Konya, Turkey.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kiyici
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Meram School of Medicine, Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gunduz
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Meram School of Medicine, Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Alibaşiç
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Meram School of Medicine, Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Akilli
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Meram School of Medicine, Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aribas
keywords: Acute pulmonary embolism; echocardiography; ischemia modified albumin; right ventricular dysfunction