Lower cardiac troponin T levels in patients undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass and receiving high-dose aprotinin therapy indicate reduction of perioperative myocardial damage.

Nowadays in many European heart centers the activation of the fibrinolytic system, always occurring during cardiopulmonary bypass, is routinely reduced by high-dose application of the proteinase inhibitor aprotinin (total of > 4 million KIU). In this study parameters of myocardial ischemic injury were investigated with the aim of identifying further benefits of aprotinin, particularly the protection of the myocardium during the ischemic period of aortic crossclamping. Forty patients with coronary artery disease who underwent aorta-coronary bypass grafting were randomly and in a double-blind fashion divided into two groups, one that received high-dose aprotinin therapy and one that received only saline solution. Markers such as troponin T, with high specificity for detection of myocardial ischemia and infarction, and markers with more general specificity such as creatine kinase, its isoenzyme, and lactate dehydrogenase showed significantly increased values after ischemia in both groups. In patients who received high-dose aprotinin therapy 3 days after cardiopulmonary bypass all parameters measured showed significantly lower levels compared with those in the control group. Therefore we can presume that the application of high-dose aprotinin provides myocardial protection from perioperative ischemic injury.