EVALUATION OF SERUM TROPONIN-T MEASUREMENT IN ACUTE MYOCARDIAL-INFARCTION

The release kinetics of the cardiac specific troponin T (cTnT), measur ed by an immunosorbent assay, in 32 patients with acute myocardial inf arction (AMI) was evaluated. In 8 AMI patients (25%), the release kine tics of serum cTnT showed biphasic serum concentration curves with a l arge peak at 10 to 18 hours after onset and the serum cTnT concentrati ons were up to 30 to 120 times of the normal upper limit-detected (0.2 mu g / ml), and another samll cTnT peak at 70 to 100 hours after onse t of pain. The serum cTnT measurements in the remaining 24 AMI patient s (75%) gave only one large peak which was around 32 to 108 hours afte r onset of pain. cTnT appeared in serum as early as 3 to 4 hours and r emained elevated until 240 hours after the infarctions. The results in dicated that (1) cTnT was a sensitive and specific marker of AMI; (2) the biphasic curve of cTnT releae in general, the ratio of cTnT at aro und 14 to 32 (14 / 32) > 1 in particular, may be a useful marker sugge sting early reperfusion; (3) the continuous elevation of serum cTnT in AMI course might be a prognostic indicator for unfavorable outcomes.