The diagnostic value of ischemia-modified albumin in the diagnosis of aortic pathology.

AIM To investigate the diagnostic value of ischemia-modified albumin (IMA) in the diagnosis oflpatients with aortic aneurysm. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study group consisted of 98 patients who presented to our university hospital emergency department with aortic pathology and were definitively diagnosed using spiral tomography. The control group consisted of 101 healthy individuals with similar demographic characteristics. RESULTS Mean IMA values were 0.89 +/- 0.21 absorbance units (ABSU) in the aortic aneurysm group (P < 0.001), 0.70 +/- 0.12 ABSU in the aortic dissection group (P < 0.001), 0.98 +/- 0.23 ABSU in the aneurysm and dissection group (P < 0.001), 0.84 + 0.16 ABSU in the aneurysm and rupture group (P < 0.001), and 0.87 +/- 0.27 ABSU in the aneurysm, dissection, and rupture group (P < 0.001). Mean IMA value for the subjects in the control group was 0.62 +/- 0.17 ABSU. All the differences between the aortic pathology groups' IMA values and those of the control group were statistically significant (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION On the basis of the findings from this study, serum IMA levels are higher in patients with aortic pathology compared to healthy individuals. This finding suggests that IMA may help to diagnose aortic pathology, but it requires confirmation by additional clinical studies.