Cardiac troponin I is elevated in dogs and cats with azotaemia renal failure and in dogs with non-cardiac systemic disease.

Objective: To determine if dogs and cats with renal failure, or other severe non-cardiac disease, and no antemortem evidence of cardiac disease on basic clinical evaluation, have elevated levels of cardiac troponin I (cTnI).

Design: Cross-sectional study using 56 dogs and 14 cats with primary non-cardiac disease (39 dogs with azotaemic renal failure, 14 cats with azotaemic renal failure, 17 dogs with non-cardiac systemic disease); 7/25 dogs and 6/14 cats had murmurs detected on physical examination. Serum or heparinised plasma was collected and analysed for cTnI.

Results: Cardiac troponin I concentrations were elevated above reference intervals in 70% of dogs and 70% of cats with azotaemic renal failure and in 70% of dogs with a variety of systemic non-cardiac diseases. Cardiac troponin I concentrations did not correlate with the degree of azotaemia, presence of murmurs, hypertension or type of non-cardiac illness.

Conclusions: Cardiac troponin I concentration is often elevated in dogs and cats with azotaemic renal failure and in dogs with other systemic non-cardiac illness, suggesting that these conditions often result in clinically inapparent myocardial injury or possibly altered elimination of cTnI.