Ischaemia-modified albumin in pulmonary hypertension

Abstract

Background: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) may be associated with subendocardial ischaemia. We investigated whether ischaemia-modified albumin (IMA), an established marker of ischaemia, is elevated in stable patients with PH.

Methods: We studied 32 patients with PH and an equal number of age-matched normal volunteers. We assessed serum IMA levels with the albumin cobalt-binding test.

Results: Patients’ mean ± SD (range) pulmonary arterial pressure was 56 ± 12 (33–73) mmHg and their exercise capacity was 394 ± 145 (121–688) m in the 6-min walk test. IMA was 92 ± 14 (69–115) U ml⁻¹ in the patient group and 93 ± 9.4 (76–122) U ml⁻¹ in the control group with no significant difference between the two (p = 0.85), although almost one-third of the patients had detectable troponin-I.

Conclusions: We conclude that IMA, a marker of ischaemia, does not differ in patients with advanced clinically stable PH compared with normal subjects.

Keywords::

• Biomarkers
• ischaemia modified albumin
• pulmonary hypertension

Acknowledgements

Declaration of interest

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