SIGNIFICANCE OF CARDIAC TROPONIN-T RELEASE AFTER PERCUTANEOUS TRANSLUMINAL CORONARY ANGIOPLASTY

Troponin T, a regulatory contractile protein, isa unique marker of myocardial damage because of its Cardiac specificity. It is not normally found in blood; therefore, its appearance in the circulation is a clear signal of cardiac myocyte damage.(1-3) Troponin T is elevated in 100% of patients with the World Health Organization criteria for acute myocardial infarction, and exhibits enhanced sensitivity and specificity compared with creatine kinase (CK) measurements in conditions such as cardiac contusion, postbypass surgery, skeletal myopathies, and unstable angina (with normal CK).(4-6) The troponin complex is a group of 3 protein subunits located on the thin filament of the contractile apparatus.(7) The duration of coronary occlusion and subsequent myocardial ischemia in uncomplicated percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) is brief and usually well tolerated by myocardium. Whereas it is customary in many catheterization laboratories to monitor the serum CK activity after intervention to gauge myocardial injury, in most patients CK release is negligible. We measured serum troponin T and compared its result with serum CK and CK-MB isoform increase after PTCA.