Early release of high-sensitive cardiac troponin during complex catheter ablation for ventricular tachycardia and atrial fibrillation

Background Radiofrequency ablation results in intentional cardiac injury. We aimed to assess the kinetics of cardiac injury as measured by cardiac troponin release following ventricular ablation and atrial ablation. Methods Patients undergoing ablation for ventricular tachycardia (VT) with structural heart disease (19 patients) or atrial fibrillation (AF, 24 patients) were prospectively enrolled. High-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) and high-sensitivity cardiac troponin I (hs-cTnI) were measured before ablation as well as 30 min, 60 min, 90 min, 120 min, 4 h, 8 h, and 24 h after applying the first ablation lesion. Results Median ablation time, power used, and energy delivered were 28 min, 39 W, and 69,713 J in VT ablations and 55 min, 29 W, and 95,425 J in AF ablations, respectively. Release of hs-cTnT occurred promptly with both, but reached greater levels earlier for ventricular compared to atrial ablation (hs-cTnT after 30 min 191 vs. 31 ng/l, after 1 h 467 vs. 80 ng/l; hs-cTnI after 30 min 132 vs. 30 ng/l, after 1 h 331 vs. 76 ng/l; p