Myocardial injury in coronary artery bypass grafting: On-pump versus off-pump comparison by measuring heart-type fatty-acid-binding protein release.

This prospective study uses heart-type fatty-acid-binding protein (hFABP) and creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB) release to compare myocardial injury in on-pump versus off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Fifty patients were randomly assigned to on-pump or off-pump CABG. The hFABP and CK-MB concentrations were measured in serial venous blood samples drawn before heparinization in both groups and after aortic unclamping at 1, 2, 4, 8, 24, 48, and 72 hours in the on-pump group. In the off-pump group, samples were taken after the last distal anastomosis at the same time intervals as in the on-pump group. The total amount of hFABP and CK-MB released was significantly higher in the on-pump than in the off-pump group (hFABP = 100.43 +/- 77.63 vs 3.94 +/- 0.36 ng/mL, P < 0.0001; CK-MB = 33.33 +/- 3.81 vs 28.65 +/- 3.91 log units, P < 0.001). In all patients, hFABP levels peaked as early as 1 hour after declamping (on-pump group) or 2 hours after the last distal anastomosis (off-pump group), whereas CK-MB peaked only at 4 hours after declamping (on-pump group) or 24 hours after the last distal anastomosis (off-pump group). The lower release of hFABP and CK-MB in the off-pump CABG group indicates that on-pump CABG with cardioplegic arrest causes more myocardial damage than does off-pump CABG. Heart-type fatty-acid-binding protein is a more rapid marker of perioperative myocardial damage, peaks earlier than CK-MB, and may predict the requirement for intensive monitoring for postoperative myocardial infarction.