Marta Szymankiewicz, Marzena Matuszczak-Wleklak, Dharmapuri Vidyasagar, Janusz Gadzinowski
Retrospective diagnosis of hypoxic myocardial injury in premature newborns
Perinatal asphyxia has a high impact on neonatal mortality, morbidity, and neurological outcome. The hypoxic effects on brain, kidney and gastrointestinal system are well recognized in newborns. While it is known that hypoxia also effects cardiac function, there are few studies of quantitative myocardial injury in premature infants who suffered hypoxia.
Aim: To investigate usefulness of cardiac troponin (cTnT) and creatinine kinase MB (CK-MB) in the diagnosis of myocardial injury due to birth hypoxia and to correlate these markers with cardiac functions as measured by echocardiogram.
Methods: We studied 43 preterm infants: 21 with birth asphyxia and 22 controls. Echocardiographic studies and quantitative determination of cTnT and CK-MB in blood serum was performed between the 12th and the 24th h of life.
Results: cTnT and CK-MB levels were higher in asphyxiated infants compared to controls (0.287±0.190 vs. 0.112±0.099 ng/mL, P<0.001) and (18.35±14.81 vs. 11.09±5.17 ng/L, P<0.05). Among controls, we observed an elevated value of cTnT in those with respiratory distress syndrome (RDS). We found a decrease in fractional shortening (P<0.05) and an increase in tricuspid insufficiency (P<0.01) in asphyxiated newborns.
Conclusions: cTnT and CK-MB levels are strong indicators of myocardial injury due to perinatal hypoxia. The cTnT level was most strongly related to RDS.
Journal of Perinatal Medicine, Walter de Gruyter
Print ISSN: 1619-3997
Volume: 34, 05/2006
Pages: 220 - 225
Show full article (external site)
Show all available items of this journal
Search
