Prevalence and determinants of elevated high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Abstract Background This study was designed to evaluate the prevalence and determinants of increased high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) as a marker of cardiac injury in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). Methods A total of 98 consecutive patients with HCM (71.4% males; mean age 51.18 ± 15.47 years) between 2012 and 2013 were evaluated by measuring the level of serum hs-cTnT along with other clinical assessments. Results There were 42 (42.9%) patients with a minimum serum hs-cTnT level of 14 ng/L. The mean hs-cTnT level was 12.37 ng/L (6.94–24.26 ng/L). There were significant differences in chest pain New York Heart Association functional class, left ventricular hypertrophy in the surface electrocardiogram, non-sustained ventricular tachycardia in 24-h electrocardiogram-Holter monitoring, left atrial (LA) area index, ratio of peak early (E) transmitral filling velocity to peak early diastolic annular velocity (Ea septal) at the level of the septal mitral annulus (E/Ea septal), maximum left ventricular (LV) wall thickness ≥ 30 mm, and peak LV outflow gradient ≥ 30 mmHg in echocardiography between the patients with hs-cTnT < 14 ng/L and those with hs-cTnT ≥ 14 ng/L. However, after multivariate analysis, age, maximum LV wall thickness, LA area index, and E/Ea septal remained as the independent determinants of elevated hs-cTnT in HCM. Conclusions The results demonstrated that hs-cTnT was elevated in a significant number of our HCM patients; therefore, hs-cTnT can be introduced as a valuable marker of myocardial injury in HCM patients.