Is there discordance between troponin T and troponin I levels in patients with renal disease without myocardial damage?
Troponin I may be a more specific marker for myocardial damage than troponin T in patients with renal disease, as troponin T can be elevated without clinical evidence of myocardial injury.
Two patients were investigated for unexplained increases in troponin T. In the first patient, who had rhabdomyolysis and acute renal failure, troponin T reached a peak value of 13.50 micrograms/L (67.5-fold the upper reference limit). The second patient had chronic renal failure and the troponin T peak value was 2.85 micrograms/L (14.3-fold the upper reference limit). Clinical investigations indicated no evidence of myocardial damage. Serum or plasma specimens were analyzed for total creatine kinase (CK), CK-2 mass, CK-2 isoform ratio, myoglobin, troponin T, troponin I, and myosin light chains; all except troponin I were at above-normal concentrations. We also investigated six additional renal patients with above-normal troponin T; troponin I was slightly increased in only one of these six patients. Our findings demonstrate discordance between results for troponin T and troponin I in renal patients.
Bhayana et al. (Wed,) studied this question.