[Cardiac protection in heart surgery interventions by preventive drug administration before extracorporeal circulation. Studies with troponin T as a parameter for perioperative myocardial damage].

The present study was designed to test if prophylactic intravenous nifedipine or nitroglycerine could reduce myocardial damage after cardiopulmonary bypass. 45 patients scheduled for elective coronary artery bypass grafting were divided at random into three groups: Group 1: control; group 2: nifedipine (0.25 microgram/kg/min); group 3: nitroglycerine (1.5 micrograms/kg/min). Infusion period reached from the beginning of anaesthesia until crossclamp of the aorta. Myocardial damage was estimated by troponin T (TnT), CK-MB and ST-segment analysis of the ECG. TnT is a cardiospecific protein from the contractile apparatus of striated muscle cells. TnT-levels might provide a very sensitive marker of small amounts of cardiac muscle necrosis. It was tested with an ELISA/one-step sandwich-assay with streptavidin-technology [9]. Criteria for ischemia in the ST-segment analysis were (according to Smith et al. [19]): ST-depression > 1 mm from baseline or ST-elevation > 2 mm from baseline at J-point + 60 ms. Statistical interpretation was done by one- and two-factorial analyses of variance (including multivariate analyses of variance). Correlation between two variables was tested by regression analysis. A level of p < 0.05 was taken for indicating statistical significance. Biometrical data, circulation data and data from cardiopulmonary bypass were without significant differences among all groups (Tables 1 and 2). Starting from normal values (< 0.05 ng/ml) TnT significantly rose in all groups immediately after cardiopulmonary bypass and remained elevated until the forth day after operation (values between 0.4 and 0.6 microgram/ml) (Figure 1).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)