Sensitive Troponin I in Out-of-hospital Cardiac Arrest

Troponin is a major diagnostic criterion of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) which confirms myocardial damage and necrosis. In out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients its dynamics and diagnostic value is often controversial and has not been well described. Most of prior studies were retrospective, using first generation troponin assays and assessing only admission troponin. The aim of this work is to correlate dynamics of sensitive troponin I with urgent coronary angiography.

Patients resuscitated after OHCA will be prospectively divided in three groups based on the results of their urgent angiographies. Serial assessment of sensitive troponin I will be obtained over initial 48 hours.

We expect admission troponin will not be predictive of AMI. Over next hours troponin levels will be highest in patients with acute coronary lesion, lower in stable obstructive coronary disease and insignificant in non-obstructive coronary disease. We also expect significant difference in highest values and dynamics of troponin in sub-group with spontaneous reperfusion (TIMI flow 2 and 3) comparing to patients with coronary occlusion (TIMI flow 0 and 1). In patients with non-obstructive disease we expect troponin levels to correlate with duration of cardiac arrest, number of external electric shocks and cumulative dose of adrenaline administered.