Serial plasma enzyme determinations were carried out in 32 patients who underwent cardiac surgery with the aid of extracorporeal circulation. Plasma creatine kinase (CK), the cardiospecific isoenzyme of CK (CKMB), and alpha-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase (HBDH) were determined from the onset of surgery up to 100 to 120 hours after operation. From the plasma enzyme activities, the total amount of...

AIMS We aimed to quantify the release of biomarkers of myocardial damage in relation to direct intramyocardial injections of genes and stem cells in patients with severe coronary artery disease. METHODS AND RESULTS We studied 71 patients with 'no-option' coronary artery disease. Patients had, via the percutaneous transluminal route, a total of 11 +/- 1 (mean +/- SD) intramyocardial injections...

INTRODUCTION Up to 40% of patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) present with non-diagnostic electrocardiograms (ECGs). The diagnosis in such cases is usually made with the aid of biochemical markers. Newer and more rapid assays for such markers have now enabled testing to be done on-site instead of in the laboratory. This potentially enables the clinician to rapidly diagnose and triag...

Heterophilic antibodies interfere in two-site immunoassays. Our purpose was to screen for the samples containing heterophilic antibodies that react with mouse immunoglobulins and to use them to determine how to eliminate interference in various two-site immunoassays being developed in our laboratory. Of approximately 2600 samples screened, 81 had heterophilic antibodies. When creatine kinase MB...

OBJECTIVES The red cell distribution width (RDW) has been identified as an independent risk factor with regard to prognosis in patients with coronary artery disease with or without heart failure. We sought to investigate the role of RDW in patients undergoing isolated coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG). METHODS Analysis of consecutive patients on a validated prospective cardiac surge...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether cardiac troponin T increases after electrical cardioversion in patients with atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter. DESIGN Serum creatine kinase (CK), creatine kinase-MB (CKMB), and cardiac troponin T were measured before, 24 hours, and 48 hours after cardioversion in 15 patients with atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter. RESULTS 12 of the 15 patients (80%) w...

Creatine kinase (CK)-MM and -MB isoforms were evaluated for the early diagnosis of myocardial infarction in patients aged over 65 years admitted to a district general hospital with acute chest pain. Samples were collected for standard cardiac enzymes, timed CK slope analysis, and CKMM and CKMB isoform analysis from 48 patients admitted with acute chest pain. CKMM and CKMB isoform analyses were ...

BACKGROUND Validation of whole blood, point-of-care testing devices for monitoring cardiac markers to aid clinicians in ruling in and ruling out myocardial infarction (MI) is necessary for both laboratory and clinical acceptance. METHODS This study evaluated the clinical diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of the First Medical Cardiac Test device operated by nursing and laboratory personne...

Myocardial contusion is an infrequent, but sometimes serious complication in patients who experienced deceleration (blunt) trauma. We investigated the assessment of the new cardiac markers troponin I (cTnI) and troponin T (cTnT) in relation to the conventional CKMB-activity, the CKMB-activity/CK-total ratio, CKMB-mass and the CKMB-mass/CK-total ratio for the detection of myocardial contusion in...