Background: The prevalence of subclinical, cardiac troponin I (cTnI) elevation in stable patients undergoing elective percutaneous coronary intervention and its relationship to culprit lesion characteristics assessed by optical coherence tomography (OCT) are unknown.
Methods and results: We studied 206 native de novo culprit coronary lesions from 206 patients with stable angina pectoris who underwent OCT before elective percutaneous coronary intervention. Patients were divided into 2 groups according to the presence (cTnI group; n=47; 22.8%) or absence (non-cTnI group; n=159; 77.2%) of cTnI ≥0.03 ng/mL at admission. The clinical and OCT findings were compared between these 2 groups. No significant difference was found in the clinical presentation between the groups except for the serum C-reactive protein levels and presence of multivessel disease. By OCT, cTnI elevation was associated with the presence of thin-cap fibroatheromas, a greater lipid arc, and a longer lipid length. In a multivariable analysis, the presence of positive C-reactive protein levels (odds ratio, 4.38; 95% confidence interval, 1.90-10.08; P=0.001) and OCT-derived thin-cap fibroatheromas (odds ratio, 2.89; 95% confidence interval, 1.22-6.86; P=0.016) were independent predictors of cTnI elevation. Periprocedural myocardial injury, defined as postpercutaneous coronary intervention peak cTnI levels >1.0 ng/mL (5× the upper reference limit), occurred more often in patients with cTnI elevation at admission (cTnI group: 41% versus non-cTnI group: 18%; P=0.001).
Conclusions: The presence of subclinical cTnI elevation at admission was not uncommon and was associated with OCT-derived unstable plaque morphology in patients undergoing elective percutaneous coronary intervention, and may help to identify patients with stable angina pectoris at high risk for periprocedural myocardial injury.
Keywords: angioplasty; biomarker; coronary disease; imaging; plaque.
© 2015 American Heart Association, Inc.