[Biochemical markers of perioperative myocardial infarct in non-cardiac surgery].

Perioperative myocardial infarction as well as other major cardiac events induced by myocardial ischemia during and after a more complex or long-lasting operation represents a permanent threat for a successful outcome. High number of cardiac ischemic events especially following major vascular surgery and in elder subjects requires early, sensitive and specific diagnostic markers. This review paper presents conventional as well as novel biochemical methods fulfilling the above mentioned criteria. Until now used estimations of traditional enzyme activities (aspartate aminotransferase and lactate dehydrogenase) are either entirely discarded or subsequently lose their importance (i.e. activities of total creatine kinase and its MB-isoenzyme) an instead modern methods that estimate the amounts of specific cardiac proteins--troponins T and I, constituents of myocardial contractile apparatus--released from ischemized heart are used. Patient's monitoring by means of these cardiac markers allows an early, rapid and reliable estimation of perioperative myocardial infarction enabling possible to arrange an immediate effective treatment. Recently the myocardial regulatory protein troponin I is considered the most specific cardiac marker the plasma level of which does not increase in acute damage and chronic diseases of skeletal muscles, nor in chronic renal failure. (Ref. 52.)