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| |  Cardiac Biomarkers Persist in Patients’ Blood for Months After Discharge Following MI: Presented at AHA By Ed Susman ORLANDO, Fla -- November 16, 2009 -- Biomarkers seen during myocardial infarction (MI) persist in a patient’s blood for months following hospital discharge, according to analyses of a heart-attack patient registry, presented here at the American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions 2009. “These elevated biomarkers are definitely associated with a reduced quality of life for patients, and may signal even worse outcomes,” noted David Lanfear, MD, Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, Michigan, speaking at a poster presentation here on November 15. “These data raise 2 important issues. The first is whether the biomarkers are a sign of ongoing problems or a reflection of the past heart attack itself. The second is whether closer monitoring of patients post heart attack can help target our treatment to those who need it most,” Dr. Lanfear commented. “While previous clinical-trial work had suggested that troponin and elevated N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide [NTBNP] persist at 1 to 6 months after discharge for a myocardial infarction, and the presence of these elevated levels is associated with worse survival,” Dr. Lanfear said, “little is known about the prevalence of elevations in a ‘real world’ myocardial-infarction population or the association with patient-centred outcomes such as health status.” To get at the prevalence of these biomarkers in a real-world population, Dr. Lanfear and colleagues examined a subset of patients from the 4,500-patient prospective heart attack registry called TRIUMPH (Translational Research Investigating Underlying Disparities in Myocardial Infarction Patients’ Health Status). The registry accrues data from 24 hospitals in the United States. For this study, the researchers assessed the biomarker levels in patients at 1 month and 6 months following discharge from the hospital. At 1 month, 14% of these heart-attack survivors were found to have elevated levels of troponin; that figure dropped to 9% at 6 months. At 1 month, 55% had elevated blood levels of NTBNP; that figure decreased to 33% at 6 months. Increased levels of the 2 biomarkers are associated with shortness of breath. Elevated levels of NTBNP have been associated with angina. Funding for this study was provided by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.
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