Importance of cardiac troponins I and T in risk stratification of patients with acute pulmonary embolism

Abstract

Background: Assessment of risk and appropriate management of patients with acute pulmonary embolism (PE) remains a challenge. Cardiac troponins I (cTnI) and T (cTnT) are reliable indicators of myocardial injury and may be associated with right ventricular dysfunction in PE.

Methods and results: The present prospective study included 106 consecutive patients with confirmed acute PE. cTnI was elevated (> or =0.07 ng/mL) in 43 patients (41%), and cTnT (> or =0.04 ng/mL) was elevated in 39 (37%). Elevation of cTnI or cTnT was significantly associated with echocardiographically detected right ventricular dysfunction (P=0.001 and P<0.05, respectively). Moreover, a significant correlation was found between elevation of cTnI or cTnT and the two major end points overall mortality and complicated in-hospital course. The negative predictive value of cardiac troponins for major clinical events was 92% to 93%. Importantly, there was obvious escalation of in-hospital mortality, the rate of complications, and the incidence of recurrent PE, when patients with high troponin concentrations (cTnI >1.5; cTnT >0.1 ng/mL) were compared with those with only moderately elevated levels (cTnI, 0.07 to 1.5; cTnT, 0.04 to 0.1 ng/mL). Logistic regression analysis confirmed that the mortality risk (OR) was significantly elevated only in patients with high cTnI (P=0.019) or cTnT (P=0.038) levels. Furthermore, the risk of a complicated in-hospital course was almost 5 times higher (15.47 versus 3.16) in the high-cTnI group compared with patients with moderate cTnI elevation.

Conclusions: Our results indicate that cTnI and cTnT may be a novel, particularly useful tool for optimizing the management strategy in patients with acute PE.