Troponins in Acute Kidney Injury

Abstract

Aim: To investigate and describe cardiac troponins in subjects with acute kidney injury (AKI). Methods: A prospective observational study of troponin in subjects presenting with AKI in a tertiary hospital. Creatine kinase-MB (CKMB), troponin I (Abbott Laboratories), and troponin T (Roche 4th generation) were measured. Patients with conditions known to cause elevated troponin levels were excluded. Results: Nineteen subjects were enrolled in the study. Six subjects had troponin I and T concentrations above the 99th percentile of a reference population. There was high concordance of result between troponin I and troponin T. However, the concordance of elevated troponin levels with CKMB was less marked at 45%. Statistically significant factors associated with elevated troponin levels were age over 60 years, abnormal electrocardiogram, and history of previous ischemic heart disease. Conclusion: This is the first study able to demonstrate impaired renal function occurring acutely, without known confounders, results in elevated troponin levels. This suggests that impaired renal function disease influences plasma troponin levels in AKI as well as in chronic kidney failure.

• acute kidney injury
• acute renal failure
• troponins
• chronic renal failure

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

We would like to thank Roche New Zealand and Abbott Laboratories for supplying reagents free of charge for this study and the A+ Trust for funding.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.