Coronary Angiographic Findings in Acute Ischemic Stroke Patients With Elevated Cardiac Troponin

Cardiac troponins (cTns) are sensitive and specific biomarkers for myocardial injury and are widely used in daily clinical practice. In patients presenting with acute coronary syndrome (ACS), cTns allow rapid risk stratification and are critical components of further patient management. Because of the large clinical and pathophysiological overlap of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease and the strong impact of cardiac adverse events on the prognosis of acute ischemic stroke (AIS), current American Heart Association/ American Stroke Association treatment guidelines recommend the assessment of cTn levels in all patients presenting with AIS. Although the vast majority of AIS patients do not clinically present with cardiac symptoms, ≈15% show cTn levels above the diagnostic threshold to suspect ongoing myocardial injury when conventional assays are used and up to 60% when high-sensitivity assays are applied. Similar to findings in the general population and in patients with stable and acute cardiac disease, cTn levels provide prognostic information on shortand long-term outcome after AIS.