Relationships of highly sensitive troponin T with clinical and echocardiographic findings in patients with acute pulmonary embolism

Pulmonary embolism is a prevalent and fatal pulmonary disease. In this study, the relationships of clinical and echocardiographic findings with serum troponin T level in patients diagnosed as having acute pulmonary embolism with normal pulmonary artery systolic pressure were investigated. A cross sectional study was carried out on 33 patients (18 with normal troponin T, lower than 14 pg/ml and 15 with elevated troponin T) with acute pulmonary embolism (mean age, 49.3; 18 male and 15 female), who hospitalized in Emam Khomeini Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences between 2009 and 2010. Clinical and echocardiographic findings were analyzed by using χ2, Exact Fisher’s test and student’s t-test. Serum troponin T level was measured by ELISA highly sensitive method. The prevalence of dysfunction, hypokinesia and dilatation of right ventricle, and also pulmonary hypertension in echocardiographic findings and right ventricular S3 sound in clinical finding was significantly higher in patients with elevated troponin T. McConnell’s sign, loud P2 sound, elevated jugular venous pulse and lowered left ventricular ejection fraction were higher in elevated troponin T patients, but there were not significant. According to results of the study, it seems that the elevated troponin T accompanies with right ventricular dysfunction signs in patients with acute pulmonary embolism.