Circulating cardiac troponin-T in patients before and after renal transplantation

Background: The diagnostic and prognostic use of cardiac troponin T (cTnT) in patients with renal failure has been questioned. Raised serum concentrat ions of cTnT, with no apparent signs of cardiac damage using conventional m ethods of detection, cave been reported. We aimed to relate circulating con centrations of cTnT to improved renal function following renal transplantat ion over a one-year period. Method: Plasma cTnT was analysed from patients with end stage renal disease before and after transplantation and subsequen tly at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months. Eight patients had diabetes, 14 had hyperlipi dermia, 8 were smokers and 4 were ex-smokers; all were hypersensitive. Resu lts: At the time of transplantation, 3 of the 32 patients (9.4%) had plasma cTnT concentrations above 0.1 mug/l, In addition to these three patients, five others showed raised cTnT over the one-year period. Conclusions: The o verall trend in circulating cTnT concentrations did not seem to be affected by improved renal function. However, all of the patients that had raised c TnT concentrations at any stage of the one-year period had explainable path ologies or were exposed to multiple cardiac risk factors. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.