Abstract

• Objectives
  Cardiac troponin T(cTnT) levels are elevated in patients with chronic renal fail-ure(CRF) with dialysis which represent myocardial damage. But the cut-off levels were different in laboratories and clinical physicians. We conducted a study to find out the cut-off levels of acute myocardial infarction(AMI), ischemic heart disease(IHD), and cardiovascular disease (CVD) in CRF patients with dialysis and prognostic aspect according to cTnT levels.
• Methods
  Cardiac troponin T(cTnT) of total 98 patients(men 43, women 55, mean age 60.4±13.0 years) was reviewed the diagnosis and progress for 3 years by the medical records. Serum cTnT by Elecsys 2010(Roche diagnostics, Germany), the 4^th generation assay was performed.
• Results
  Mean cTnT level of total 98 patients was 0.26ng/mL and the patients with CVD were 59(60.2%) and their cTnT level was 0.41 ng/mL. The mean levels of cTnT in AMI, IHD, and CVD were 1.10, 0.52, and 0.41 ng/mL, respectively. cTnT, CK, CK-MB, and glucose were increased according to severity of cardiovascular disease. The cut-off levels of cTnT in AMI, IHD, and CVD was 0.10, 0.07 and 0.06 ng/mL. The sensitivity and specificity of AMI, IHD, and CVD in each cut-off level were 88.2/71.6%, 76.2/71.4%, and 81.4/71.8%, respectively. The survival rate above cTnT 0.1 ng/mL during 3 years was significantly decreased(p<0.001) than less than 0.1 ng/mL.
• Conclusion
  The degree of cTnT elevation in CRF patients with dialysis represents severity of cardiovascular disease and poor survival rate.
• Keywords: cTnT; CRF; Dialysis; Survival rate