Plasma zinc after myocardial infarction.

Plasma levels of zinc and albumin have been measured for eight consecutive days in patients suffering chest pain due to myocardial infarction or myocardial ischaemia. A substantial diurnal variation has been found in both controls and patients. Plasma zinc falls after myocardial infarction reaching the lowest level on day 2, thereafter returning to normal by day 8. The lowest plasma zinc levels occur within 48 h of a myocardial infarction and in some patients herald the development of a serious cardiac arrhythmia. Plasma albumin falls progressively after myocardial infarction, being lowest on day 8. The fall in plasma zinc is not totally explained by the fall in plasma albumin.