Monitoring of extracellular aspartate aminotransferase and troponin T by microdialysis during and after cardioplegic heart arrest.

This study aims at developing per- and postopertive surveillance of the myocardium and focuses on ischemic damage following cardioplegic heart arrest. Levels of troponin T and total aspartate aminotransferase (ASAT) were analyzed in the myocardial interstitium of 10 patients with ischemic heart disease (IHD) who underwent coronary bypass surgery and in 12 patients with nonischemic heart disease (N-IHD) who underwent valvular surgery. Fluid from the myocardial interstitium of the anterior and the lateral wall of the heart was sampled by microdialysis probes that were implanted during surgery and extracted percutaneously 70-100 h later. There were no adverse reactions, and the equipment did not interfere with the surgical procedures. The peak in troponin T serum levels that occurred 4 h after cardiac arrest was preceded by a peak in troponin T levels in the microdialysates from the interstitium that occurred 1 h earlier. The concentration of troponin T in the microdialysate peak was 300 times higher than in the serum peak. The increase in serum ASAT levels during the first 7 h after cardiac arrest corresponded in time with a decrease in interstitial ASAT levels, which had already reached a maximum during cardiac arrest. The microdialysate/serum concentration ratio was considerably smaller for ASAT than for troponin T. Interstitial peak levels of troponin T correlated positively and significantly with peak levels of ASAT. Of the 22 patients, 15 had no postoperative events according to clinical outcome, ECG and serum tests. Fourteen of these had low to normal levels of interstitial ASAT and troponin T. Conversely, atrial fibrillation and/or premature atrial contractions were recorded in 8/22 patients, 7 of whom had elevated interstitial ASAT and/or troponin T concentrations in one or both of the sampled heart regions. The N-IHD patients had higher levels of troponin T in the interstitium 20-70 h following cardioplegia, while the peak levels did not differ between the groups. In conclusion, microdialysis sampling of troponin T and ASAT is safe and allows a highly sensitive analysis of the ischemic trauma exerted by the cardioplegic arrest.