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 (≥0.07 ng/mL) in 43 patients (41%), and cTnT (≥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 P1.5; 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.