Size estimation of acute myocardial infarction from serial serum myoglobin observations with due consideration of individual differences in basic kinetics

Troponin T measurement after myocardial infarction can identify left ventricular ejection of less than 40%

AIM

To determine whether measurement of serum troponin T concentration after first acute myocardial infarction can be used to identify patients with a left ventricular ejection fraction of < 40%, who have an adverse prognosis.

METHODS

Troponin T concentration was measured, and coronary and left ventriculography performed in 50 consecutive patients with acute myocardial infarction. Angiographic left ventricular ejection fraction was compared with serum troponin T concentration. Patients with previous myocardial infarction were excluded.

RESULTS

There was a strong negative correlation between left ventricular ejection fraction and troponin T concentration. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient (corrected for ties) was -0.72 (95% confidence intervals (CI) -0.55 to -0.83; p < 0.0001). Analysis by receiver operator characteristic curve produced an area under the curve of 0.9773 (95% CI 0.9409 to 1.0136). A troponin T concentration of > 2.8 micrograms/l predicted a left ventricular ejection fraction of < 40% with a sensitivity of 100% (CI 84.6 to 100.0) and specificity of 92.9% (CI 76.5 to 99.1). Exclusion of patients who did not receive thrombolytic treatment did not significantly affect the results.

CONCLUSION

Serum troponin T concentration measured 12-48 hours after admission for first myocardial infarction is a reliable, simple, quick, inexpensive, non-invasive method for identifying patients with a left ventricular ejection fraction of < 40% for whom there is a poor prognosis.

Thrombolytic therapy does not change the release ratios of enzymatic and non-enzymatic myocardial marker proteins

Measurements of cardiac marker proteins in plasma from patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) have become important in the evaluation of recanalization therapy. The validity of this approach has however been questioned, because it was claimed that coronary reperfusion may increase the recovery in plasma of cardiac enzymes, such as creatine kinase (CK). In the present study, possible effects of thrombolytic therapy on the release of enzymatic and nonenzymatic marker proteins were investigated. Activities of CK and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and concentrations of myoglobin (Mb) and fatty acid-binding protein (FABP) were determined in serial plasma samples obtained from 50 patients with confirmed AMI, of whom 36 received thrombolytic therapy, and 14 did not. Treatment delay was 2.8+/-1.6 (mean+/-SD) h, and hospital delay in untreated patients was 2.7+/-1.8 h. Average infarct size, expressed in gram-equivalents of heart muscle per litre of plasma (g-eq/l), varied between 5.5 and 7.2 g-eq/l for the four marker proteins in patients treated with thrombolytic therapy, and between 4.6 and 6.4 g-eq/l in untreated patients, with a tendency to larger infarct sizes for Mb and FABP than for CK and LDH. Thrombolytic therapy, although significantly accelerating protein release rates, did not influence the release ratios. These results indicate that thrombolytic therapy has no significant effects on the recovery of cardiac marker proteins in plasma.

Estimation of myocardial infarct size from plasma myoglobin or fatty acid-binding protein. Influence of renal function

Myoglobin (M(r) 18,000) and fatty acid-binding protein (M(r) 15,000), are low molecular mass cytoplasmic proteins that are considered useful biochemical markers for early detection or exclusion of acute myocardial infarction, and also for early estimation of infarct size. As each of these proteins shows renal clearance, we studied the influence of renal function on the estimation of infarct size from their plasma concentration curves. For this, infarct size estimated from plasma myoglobin or fatty acid-binding protein release curves was compared with that estimated with the established infarct size markers hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase and creatine kinase, which are not influenced by changes in renal function. The discordance between infarct size estimates was related to renal function. Creatine kinase (EC 2.7.3.2), hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.27), myoglobin, fatty acid-binding protein and creatinine were assayed serially in plasma samples obtained frequently and for at least 72 hours after the start of thrombolytic therapy in 20 patients with acute myocardial infarction. Cumulative release of the different cardiac markers was calculated by using a two-compartment model for circulating proteins. Mean tissue contents of 156 U/g for hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase, 2163 U/g for creatine kinase, 2.79 mg/g for myoglobin and 0.57 mg/g wet weight for fatty acid-binding protein, were used to express infarct size in gram-equivalents of healthy myocardium per litre of plasma (g-eq/l). Mean plasma creatinine was obtained by averaging the creatinine concentrations measured in all plasma samples taken during the first 24 hours after acute myocardial infarction. A relation was found between the mean plasma creatinine concentration during the first 24 hours after acute myocardial infarction and the discordance between infarct size estimated from cumulative hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase release, compared to infarct size estimated from cumulative myoglobin or fatty acid-binding protein release. For patients with mean plasma creatinine concentrations within the reference interval for creatinine (group 1, n = 15) a good agreement was found between infarct size estimated from myoglobin or fatty acid-binding protein plasma curves and that estimated with either hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase or creatine kinase. However, for patients with a mean creatinine concentration above the upper reference limit (group 2, n = 5), infarct size calculated from plasma myoglobin or fatty acid-binding protein release curves was markedly overestimated, especially for larger infarcts. Estimation of infarct size from serial plasma myoglobin or fatty acid-binding protein concentrations is possible in the first 24 hours after the onset of symptoms, but only in patients with normal renal function, as estimated from plasma creatinine concentrations.

Myocardial infarct size can be estimated from serial plasma myoglobin measurements within 4 hours of reperfusion

BACKGROUND

An early estimation of infarct size is useful for the appropriate early treatment of patients with acute myocardial infarction. We evaluated how early and how accurately infarct size could be estimated from serial plasma myoglobin (Mb) measurements in patients with successful reperfusion.

METHODS AND RESULTS

We measured plasma Mb and creatine kinase (CK) in 35 patients in whom reperfusion therapy was successfully performed. Blood samples were collected at 15-minute intervals for 2 hours after reperfusion, at 30-minute intervals for the subsequent 2 hours, and at 3-6-hour intervals until 52 hours after reperfusion. Plasma Mb was measured by a newly developed turbidimetric latex agglutination assay. Total Mb and CK release (sigma Mb, sigma CK) were calculated with a one-compartment model. The mean chord motion in the most hypokinetic 50% of the infarct-related artery territory was calculated from follow-up ventriculograms as an index of the severity of regional hypokinesis. There were significant correlations between sigma Mb and sigma CK (r = 0.89), between log sigma Mb and the severity of regional hypokinesis (r = -0.85), and between log sigma CK and the severity of regional hypokinesis (r = -0.74). The time required for the cumulative Mb release curves to reach a plateau was 64 +/- 28 minutes. An additional 53 +/- 14 minutes was required to calculate the disappearance rate constant of Mb, and 15 minutes was necessary for the assay. Therefore, the total time required for sigma Mb to be available was 132 +/- 40 minutes, significantly shorter than the time required for sigma CK, 24.3 +/- 9.1 hours (p < 0.001). The infarct size could be estimated from the sigma Mb in 34 of 35 patients within 4 hours of reperfusion.

CONCLUSIONS

Infarct size can be estimated accurately 4 hours after reperfusion by calculating the sigma Mb in patients with successful reperfusion.

Acute myocardial infarction size and myoglobin release into serum

The kinetics of myoglobin release after acute myocardial infarction were studied. Various algorithms for calculation of infarct size, based on immunonephelometric determination of myoglobin and cumulative myoglobin release into the circulation were compared. The cumulative myoglobin release and maximal serum myoglobin concentration were compared with various measures of infarct size: cumulative release of creatine kinase, electrocardiographic changes, and left ventricular ejection fraction. After acute myocardial infarction, time to peak for myoglobin in serum was correlated with time to peak for creatine kinase (r = 0.645). On average, the myoglobin concentration peaked 8.8 h earlier than creatine kinase activity. The rate of elimination of myoglobin showed a large variation (0.041-0.628 h-1) and was not correlated with the elimination rate of creatine kinase. The elimination rate of myoglobin after acute myocardial infarction was shown to depend on the patient's age and infarct size. The elimination constant of myoglobin is preferably estimated on an individual basis in large and complicated infarctions. Cumulative myoglobin release correlated with algorithms based on the cumulative release of creatine kinase (r = 0.622) and its isoenzyme MB (r = 0.660), and to a lesser extent with the residual left ventricular ejection fraction (r = 0.513) and the sum of ST-segment deviations on electrocardiography (r = 0.469). Maximal myoglobin values in serum correlated moderately with the calculated infarct size (r = 0.488; based on creatine kinase-MB) and electrocardiographic changes (r = 0.554). In combination with fast immunological methods for myoglobin determination, myoglobin peak height offers the advantage of providing reliable results within 12 h after onset of symptoms.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Kinetics of myoglobin release and prediction of myocardial myoglobin depletion after coronary artery reperfusion

To better define the usefulness of blood myoglobin measurements in evaluating the effectiveness of attempted thrombolysis, we studied the kinetics of myoglobin entry into and removal from the circulation after coronary artery reperfusion and the relation between directly measured depletion of myocardial myoglobin after coronary occlusion and reperfusion and the amount of depletion predicted from plasma myoglobin concentration-time curves. Initially, canine myoglobin was administered to 11 dogs by both bolus injection and 40-minute infusion, and the subsequent disappearance patterns of myoglobin from plasma monitored by radioimmunoassay. A monoexponential regression line (corresponding to a one-compartment model) and a biexponential regression line (corresponding to a two-compartment model) were determined for each set of washout data, the kinetic parameters were calculated, and the goodness of fit of each model was assessed. Results were similar after both methods of myoglobin administration. In five of 11 animals, the one-compartment model described the myoglobin kinetics better; in the other six animals, the two-compartment model was statistically superior, but values for the volume of distribution and elimination rate constant differed by only 10% from the one-compartment estimates. After bolus administration of myoglobin and with a one-compartment model, the volume of distribution of myoglobin was determined to be 1,601 +/- 77 (SEM) ml, representing 6.8 +/- 0.2% of total body weight; the elimination rate constant averaged 0.132 +/- 0.006/min and corresponded to a mean half-time of disappearance of 5.5 +/- 0.2 minutes.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Myoglobin as an early indicator of acute myocardial infarction

The ECG and the determination of serum enzymes creatine phosphokinase (CPK) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) may be falsely normal early in acute myocardial infarction. Myoglobin, an oxygen-carrying protein found in cardiac muscle and striated skeletal muscle, presents an attractive alternative to CPK and LDH in the emergency department setting for identification of acute myocardial infarction. Myoglobin levels may be elevated in the serum within one hour after myocardial cell death with peak levels reached within four to six hours. We report a study of 59 patients presenting to a community hospital with chest pain and subsequent hospitalization. Twenty-one had an acute myocardial infarction. Presenting (0 hour) myoglobin determination was positive in 13 of 21 individuals, while CPK-MB was positive in only three. Serum myoglobin elevation at three hours identified all 21 patients with myocardial infarction with the CPK-MB determination positive in 19. Serum myoglobin elevation may permit early identification of myocardial infarction, with subsequent verification using CPK-MB determination, allowing appropriate intensive care admission for careful monitoring of these patients.