This report on a longitudinal study of 239 patients with aneurismal subarachnoid hemorrhage explored the prevalence of myocardial injury (MI) within the first 5 days after hemorrhage and the impact on 3-month functional recovery. High cardiac troponin I levels (>0.3 ng/mL) were found in 33.5% of the patients, many of whom did not have a history of coronary artery disease. Higher troponin levels were significantly associated with age and severity of subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) as measured by Hunt/Hess and Fisher grades.
Patients with higher troponin levels had poorer functional recovery and disability. The results of the study indicate that elevated cardiac troponin I levels occur commonly after aneurismal subarachnoid hemorrhage and are associated with severity of hemorrhage and predictive of poorer 3-month functional outcomes and functional disability.
According to lead author Joyce Miketic, rn, mba, the idea for this study arose from discussions among clinicians and neurosurgeons who noticed...