About 2 million adults worldwide undergo heart surgery each year, and checking blood levels of a certain protein could help assess their risk of death within 30 days, a new study shows.
Blood tests to check levels of troponin (a type of protein found in the heart muscle) have long been used to evaluate the risk of death and serious complications after a heart attack, but the tests are not commonly done after heart surgery.
This new study found that elevated troponin levels were associated with an increased risk of death after heart bypass or open-heart surgery.
“This study is a landmark for the health teams taking care of patients after cardiac surgery,” says study co-author André Lamy, a professor of surgery at McMaster University in Canada.
“For the first time, we have a marker that is fast and reliable for the monitoring of these patients after cardiac surgery,” Lamy said in a university news release.
This study included nearly 16,000 adult heart surgery patients, average age 63, in 12 countries. By 30 days after surgery, more than 2% of patients had died, and about 3% had experienced a major vascular complication, such as heart attack, stroke or a life-threatening blood clot.
The patients’ troponin levels were measured before and daily for the first few days after surgery.
“We found that the levels of troponin associated with an increased risk of death within 30 days were substantially higher — 200 to 500 times the normal value — than troponin levels that surgical teams are currently told defines the risk of a patient having one of the most common
complications after heart surgery — myocardial injury, a heart muscle injury associated with increased deaths,” said lead study author P.J. Devereaux. He’s a senior scientist at McMaster and a cardiologist at Hamilton Health Sciences.
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During a troponin test, a health care professional will take a blood sample from a vein in your arm using a small needle. Once the needle is inserted into your vein, a small amount of blood is collected into a test tube or vial. This test usually takes no more than five minutes and you may feel a small sting as the needle goes in and out of your vein.
It does not require any proper preparation and has very little risk besides a slight pain or bruising at the spot where the needle was put in. These symptoms usually go away rather quickly.
You may need a troponin test if you have recently been admitted to the emergency room with symptoms of a heart attack. These symptoms include:
If you are experiencing symptoms of a heart attack, you should call 911 immediately.
Results that show normal troponin levels for 12 hours after you experience chest pain mean it is unlikely that your symptoms were caused by a heart attack.
Even the smallest level of troponin in your blood could be a sign that there is some damage to your heart. If your troponin levels are high in one or more tests over time, you most likely suffered a heart attack. Other reasons for higher than normal troponin levels include:
If you have questions about your results or have further questions on how a troponin test may benefit you, talk to your health care provider.
If you recently had heart surgery, there are a few things that you will want to keep in mind to ensure that you recover properly, according to Abbott.
Your heart surgery aftercare at home will include:
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