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Had Heart Attack, Stent Fitted, Troponin Levels High. Reason? Heart Damaged?
Hello I had a heart attack six months ago and had a stent fitted. All has been OK since although on a full range of drugs such as beta blockers, blood thinners, anti- cholestrol etc etc. Last week had pains + went to hospital but ECGs were clear. But my Troponin levels were high 62-49 etc, even higher than when I had my heart attack 6 months ago. I´m worried because they discharged me saying they had done all the tests such as angiograms, put me on medicine that I needed, and I don´t smoke , also only 50 years old etc, but what about these elevated enzymes?? Doesn´t that mean my heart is being damaged....?
posted on
Fri, 11 Oct 2013
Medically reviewed by
Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team
Thu, 31 Oct 2013
Answered on
Thu, 31 Oct 2013
Last reviewed on
Respected Sir
Thanks for writing to us.
1. Definitely A rise in troponin usually mean damage to heart muscle. This usually correlated with complete or near complete occlusion of one of the vessels of the heart. I hope they must have correlated your angiograms (fresh and old) and current clinical status with troponin levels. However troponins do not remain elevated for months. It usually disappears by 10-14 days. hence the rise was recent only. There may be other reasons for the rise but they all are indicative of poor prognosis. These may be kidney failure, recent chest or other infection, exacerbation of chronic bronchitis etc.
The best person to decipher the exact cause is your cardiologist. You must talk to him and get an explanation for this rise.
Sincerely
Sukhvinder
Thanks for writing to us.
1. Definitely A rise in troponin usually mean damage to heart muscle. This usually correlated with complete or near complete occlusion of one of the vessels of the heart. I hope they must have correlated your angiograms (fresh and old) and current clinical status with troponin levels. However troponins do not remain elevated for months. It usually disappears by 10-14 days. hence the rise was recent only. There may be other reasons for the rise but they all are indicative of poor prognosis. These may be kidney failure, recent chest or other infection, exacerbation of chronic bronchitis etc.
The best person to decipher the exact cause is your cardiologist. You must talk to him and get an explanation for this rise.
Sincerely
Sukhvinder
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