Prognostic Value of Serial High-Sensitivity Troponin T Measurements in Adults With Congenital Heart Disease

Surveillance of adults with congenital heart disease: Current guidelines and actual clinical practice

BACKGROUND AND AIM

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common birth defect with prevalence of 0.8%. Thanks to tremendous progress in medical and surgical practice, nowadays, >90% of children survive into adulthood. Recently European Society of Cardiology (ESC), American College of Cardiology (ACC)/ American Heart Association (AHA) issued guidelines which offer diagnostic and therapeutic recommendations for the different defect categories. However, the type of technical exams and their frequency of follow-up may vary largely between clinicians and centres. We aimed to present an overview of available diagnostic modalities and describe current surveillance practices by cardiologists taking care of adults with CHD (ACHD).

METHODS AND RESULTS

A questionnaire was used to assess the frequency cardiologists treating ACHD for at least one year administrated the most common diagnostic tests for ACHD. The most frequently employed diagnostic modalities were ECG and echocardiography for both mild and moderate/severe CHD. Sixty-seven percent of respondents reported that they routinely address psychosocial well-being.

CONCLUSION

Differences exist between reported current clinical practice and published guidelines. This is particularly true for the care of patients with mild lesions. In addition, some differences exist between ESC and American guidelines, with more frequent surveillance suggested by the Americans.

Predictive value of NT-proBNP and hs-TnT for outcomes after pediatric congenital cardiac surgery

BACKGROUND

The available evidence regarding the predictive value of troponins and natriuretic peptides for early postoperative outcomes in pediatrics is limited, controversial, and based on small sample sizes. The authors aimed to investigate the association of N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and high-sensitivity troponin T (hs-TnT) with the in-hospital adverse outcomes after congenital cardiac surgeries.

METHODS

A secondary analysis based on a prospective study of pediatric congenital heart disease (CHD) patients was conducted to investigate the association of NT-proBNP and hs-TnT tested within 6 h postoperatively with in-hospital adverse events. A multivariate logistic regression analysis with a minimum P value approach was used to identify the optimal thresholds of NT-proBNP and hs-TnT for risk stratification.

RESULTS

NT-proBNP and hs-TnT are positively correlated with cardiopulmonary bypass time, mechanical ventilation duration, and pediatric intensive care unit stay. The predictive performance of NT-proBNP is excellent for adverse events in both patients younger than 1 year [area under the curve (AUC): 0.771, 0.693-0.850] and those older than 1 year (AUC: 0.839, 0.757-0.922). However, hs-TnT exhibited a satisfactory predictive value solely in patients aged over 1 year. (AUC: 0.784, 0.717-0.852). NT-proBNP levels of 2000-10 000 ng/l [odds ratio (OR): 3.79, 1.47-9.76] and exceeding 10 000 ng/l (OR: 12.21, 3.66-40.80) were associated with a higher risk of postoperative adverse events in patients younger than 1 year. Patients older than 1 year, with NT-proBNP higher than 500 ng/l (OR: 15.09, 6.05-37.66) or hs-TnT higher than 1200 ng/l (OR: 5.50, 1.47-20.59), had a higher incidence of postoperative adverse events.

CONCLUSIONS

NT-proBNP and hs-TnT tested within postoperative 6 h demonstrated significant predictive value for postoperative adverse events in CHD patients older than 1 year. However, among CHD patients younger than 1 year, only NT-proBNP exhibited commendable predictive performance for postoperative adverse events.

High-sensitive troponin T and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide independently predict survival and cardiac-related events in adults with congenital heart disease

AIMS

High-sensitive troponin T (hs-TnT), N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), and C-reactive protein (CRP) are established prognostic biomarkers for cardiovascular (CV) morbidity and mortality and frequently used in symptomatic and/or hospitalized adults with congenital heart disease (ACHD). Their prognostic value in clinically stable ACHD has not yet been well established. This study investigates the predictive value of hs-TnT, NT-proBNP, and CRP for survival and CV events in stable ACHD.

METHODS AND RESULTS

In this prospective cohort study, 495 outpatient ACHD (43.9 ± 10.0 years, 49.1% female) underwent venous blood sampling including hs-TnT, NT-proBNP, and CRP. Patients were followed up for survival status and the occurrence of CV events. Survival analyses were performed with Cox proportional hazards regression analysis and Kaplan-Meier curves. During a mean follow-up of 2.8 ± 1.0 years, 53 patients (10.7%) died or reached a cardiac-related endpoint including sustained ventricular tachycardia, hospitalization with cardiac decompensation, ablation, interventional catheterization, pacer implantation, or cardiac surgery. Multivariable Cox regression revealed hs-TnT (P = 0.005) and NT-proBNP (P = 0.018) as independent predictors of death or cardiac-related events in stable ACHD, whilst the prognostic value of CRP vanished after multivariable adjustment (P = 0.057). Receiver-operator characteristic curve analysis identified cut-off values for event-free survival of hs-TnT ≤9 ng/L and NT-proBNP ≤200 ng/L. Patients with both increased biomarkers had a 7.7-fold (confidence interval 3.57-16.40, P < 0.001) higher risk for death and cardiac-related events compared with patients without elevated blood values.

CONCLUSION

Subclinical values of hs-TnT and NT-proBNP are a useful, simple, and independent prognostic tool for adverse cardiac events and survival in stable outpatient ACHD.

REGISTRATION

German Clinical Trial Registry DRKS00015248.

Adult patients with congenital heart disease in the intensive care unit

Objective

Current data on intensive care unit (ICU) admissions in patients with adult congenital heart disease (ACHD) are limited and focus on admissions after elective cardiac surgery. This study describes non-elective ICU admissions in patients with ACHD.

Methods

A retrospective matched cohort study was performed from January 2000 until December 2015 in a tertiary care centre ICU (there was no cardiac care unit). Primary outcomes were short-term (during hospital stay or <30 days after discharge) and long-term (>30 days after discharge until end of follow-up) mortality. Outcomes were compared with non-ACHD non-elective ICU admissions, matched 1:1 on age, sex and admission diagnosis.

Results

A total of 138 admissions in 104 patients with ACHD (65.9% male, median age 30 years) were included, during 8.6 years of follow-up. The majority had a moderate-to-severe heart defect. Arrhythmia was the most common admission diagnosis (44.2%), followed by haemorrhage (10.9%), heart failure (8.7%) and pulmonary disease (8.7%). Short-term mortality and total mortality were lower in the ACHD admissions than in the non-ACHD admissions (4.8% vs 16.3%, p=0.005 and 17.3% vs 28.9%, p=0.030), whereas long-term (12.5% vs 12.6%, p=0.700) did not differ. Severe CHD (HR 3.1, 95% CI 1.1 to 8.6) at baseline, and mechanical circulatory support device use (8.3, 1.4 to 47.4) and emergency intervention (0.2, 0.1 to 0.7) during the ICU stay were independently associated with mortality in the ACHD group.

Conclusions

Non-elective ICU admissions in patients with ACHD are most often for arrhythmia and in patients with moderate-to-severe CHD. Reassuringly, short-term and total mortality are lower compared with patients without ACHD, however, long-term mortality is higher than expected for patients with ACHD.

Association between the magnitude of periprocedural myocardial injury and prognosis in patients undergoing elective percutaneous coronary intervention

AIMS

This study aimed to investigate the prognostic implications of increased post-procedural cardiac troponin levels in patients undergoing elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and to define the threshold of prognostically relevant periprocedural myocardial injury (PMI).

METHODS AND RESULTS

A total of 3249 patients with normal baseline troponin levels referred for elective PCI were enrolled and followed up for a median period of 20 months. The primary endpoint was major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) comprising all-cause death, myocardial injury (MI), and ischaemic stroke. Post-PCI high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) >99% upper reference limit (URL) occurred in 78.3% of the patients and did not increase the risk of MACEs [adjusted hazard ratio (adHR) 1.00, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.58-1.74, P = 0.990], nor did 'major PMI', defined as post-PCI hs-cTnT >5× URL (adHR 1.30, 95% CI 0.76-2.23, P = 0.340). Post-PCI troponin >8× URL, with an incidence of 15.2%, started to show an association with a higher risk of MACEs (adHR 1.89, 95% CI 1.06-3.37, P = 0.032), mainly driven by myocardial infarction (adHR 2.38, 95% CI 1.05-5.38, P = 0.037) and ischaemic stroke (adHR 3.35, 95% CI 1.17-9.64, P = 0.025).

CONCLUSION

In patients with normal baseline troponin values undergoing elective PCI, PMI defined as hs-cTnT >8× URL after PCI was more appropriate for identifying patients with an increased risk of MACEs, which may help guide clinical practice in this population.