Gamma-Glutamyl Transpeptidase and Other Liver Function Tests in Myocardial Infarction and Heart Failure

Abstract

Serum gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGTP) was measured and other liver function tests were performed in patients with myocardial infarction with and without cardiac failure, and in patients with cardiac failure from other causes. No late increase in GGTP occurred in myocardial infarction, and of the 27 patients who did not develop cardiac failure, only five had increased levels at any time. Elevations were more common when cardiac failure developed, and were also common in patients with cardiac failure from other causes. In our opinion, GGTP has little to offer in the diagnosis of myocardial infarction, and increases, when they occur, are the result of impairment of liver function. Abnormalities in other liver function tests, while common in cardiac failure, also occurred in a significant number of patients with uncomplicated myocardial infarction. This suggests that sufficient reduction of hepatic blood flow to cause abnormalities in liver function can occur in heart disease without the usual clinical signs of cardiac failure.