Cardiac troponin I is an independent predictor of in-hospital death after adult cardiac surgery.

BACKGROUND Although myocardial injury during cardiac surgery is associated with impaired clinical outcome, little is known about the prognostic value of cardiac troponin I (cTnI), a cardiac-specific biologic marker. The purpose of this prospective study was to evaluate the prognostic value of cTnI concentrations measured 20 h after the end of surgery in adult patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting or conventional valve surgery. METHODS Baseline and perioperative characteristics of 502 consecutive patients undergoing conventional heart surgery during a 1-yr period were collected. In-hospital death (n = 28) and major clinical outcomes, e.g., low cardiac output, ventricular arrhythmia, and renal failure, were recorded. RESULTS Multivariate analysis, using a stepwise logistic regression, showed that cTnI concentration was an independent predictor of in-hospital mortality (for cTnI concentration > 13 ng/ml, odds ratio = 6.7 [95% confidence interval, 2.3-19.3]), as were diabetes, altered preoperative cardiac function, emergent surgery, cardiopulmonary bypass duration, postoperative Pao2 level and total chest drainage volume. Further, elevated cTnI concentrations were associated with a cardiac cause of death and with major clinical outcomes. CONCLUSIONS Our results demonstrated that cTnI concentration measured 20 h after the end of surgery is an independent predictor of in-hospital death after cardiac surgery. In addition, elevated concentrations of cTnI are associated with a cardiac cause of death and with major postoperative complications.