Types
Types of cardiac markers include the following:
| Test | Sensitivity and specificity | Approximate peak | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Troponin test | The most sensitive and specific test for myocardial damage. Because it has increased specificity compared with CK-MB, troponin is a superior marker for myocardial injury. | 12 hours | Troponin is released during MI from the cytosolic pool of the myocytes. Its subsequent release is prolonged with degradation of actin and myosin filaments. Differential diagnosis of troponin elevation includes acute infarction, severe pulmonary embolism causing acute right heart overload, heart failure, myocarditis. Troponins can also calculate infarct size but the peak must be measured in the 3rd day. After myocyte injury, troponin is released in 2–4 hours and persists for up to 7 days. |
| Creatine Kinase (CK-MB) test | It is relatively specific when skeletal muscle damage is not present. | 10–24 hours | CK-MB resides in the cytosol and facilitates movement of high energy phosphates into and out of mitochondria. It is distributed in a large number of tissues even in the skeletal muscle. Since it has a short duration, it cannot be used for late diagnosis of acute MI but can be used to suggest infarct extension if levels rise again. This is usually back to normal within 2–3 days. |
| Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) | LDH is not as specific as troponin. | 72 hours | Lactate dehydrogenase catalyses the conversion of pyruvate to lactate. LDH-1 isozyme is normally found in the heart muscle and LDH-2 is found predominately in blood serum. A high LDH-1 level to LDH-2 suggest MI. LDH levels are also high in tissue breakdown or hemolysis. It can mean cancer, meningitis, encephalitis, or HIV. this usually back to normal 10–14 days. |
| Aspartate transaminase (AST) | This was the first used. It is not specific for heart damage, and it is also one of the liver function tests. | ||
| Myoglobin (Mb) | low specificity for myocardial infarction | 2 hours | Myoglobin is used less than the other markers. Myoglobin is the primary oxygen-carrying pigment of muscle tissue. It is high when muscle tissue is damaged but it lacks specificity. It has the advantage of responding very rapidly, rising and falling earlier than CK-MB or troponin. It also has been used in assessing reperfusion after thrombolysis. |
| Ischemia-modified albumin (IMA) | low specificity | IMA can be detected via the albumin cobalt binding (ACB) test, a limited available FDA approved assay. Myocardial ischemia alters the N-terminus of albumin reducing the ability of cobalt to bind to albumin. IMA measures ischemia in the blood vessels and thus returns results in minutes rather than traditional markers of necrosis that take hours. ACB test has low specificity therefore generating high number of false positives and must be used in conjunction with typical acute approaches such as ECG and physical exam. Additional studies are required. | |
| Pro-brain natriuretic peptide | This is increased in patients with heart failure. It has been approved as a marker for acute congestive heart failure. Pt with < 80 have a much higher rate of symptom free survival within a year. Generally, pt with CHF will have > 100. | ||
| Glycogen phosphorylase isoenzyme BB | high sensitivity and specificity early after chest pain | 7 hours |
Glycogen phosphorylase isoenzyme BB (abbreviation: GPBB) is an isoenzyme of glycogen phosphorylase. Glycogen phosphorylase exists in 3 isoforms. One of these Isoforms is GP-BB. This isoform exists in heart and brain tissue. Because of the blood–brain barrier GP-BB can be seen as heart muscle specific. During the process of ischemia, GP-BB is converted into a soluble form and is released into the blood. This isoform of the enzyme exists in cardiac (heart) and brain tissue. GP-BB is one of the "new cardiac markers" which are discussed to improve early diagnosis in acute coronary syndrome. A rapid rise in blood levels can be seen in myocardial infarction and unstable angina. GP-BB elevated 1–3 hours after process of ischemia. |
Recently, the intentional destruction of myocardium by alcohol septal ablation has led to the identification of additional potential markers.
Read more about this topic: Cardiac Marker
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