Abstract
Background.
We wanted to examine the prognostic value of elevated cardiac troponin I (cTnI) after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with unstable angina pectoris (UAP), one year after intervention.
Material and methods.
The charts to 157 patients with UAP who underwent PCI in 2001 were reviewed. We included 103 patients with TnI-values before and after PCI in the study. The patients were divided into two groups, depending on TnI-positive or TnI-negative before PCI. Demographic information was registered, together with TnI-values before and 16 – 24 hours after PCI. We defined events after one year as death (all-cause) or hospitalization with cardiovascular disease (angina pectoris, myocardial infarction, pulmonary edema, new PCI or ACB-operation).
Results.
Totally 31,1% of the patients had elevated TnI (>0,10ìg/L) after intervention. The pre-PCI TnI-negative patients with a de novo post-PCI TnI-elevation, had a statistically significant higher number of events, compared to those without post-PCI TnI-elevation (50,0% vs. 21,7%; p=0,024). The importance of post-PCI TnI-elevation was confounded by TnI-rise prior to PCI.
Interpretation.
This study indicates that TnI-elevation after PCI has an important prognostic value in patients with unstable angina pectoris. Especially in patients with de novo TnI-elevation.