Prevalence of Myocardial Injury in Gastrointestinal Surgery Patients. A Multicentre Prospective Cohort Study

Introduction: There is consensus on diagnosis and management of myocardial infarction, but less information is known about subclinical postoperative myocardial injury which can be manifested only as elevation of troponin in totally asymptomatic patients. Postoperative elevation of troponin levels is associated with major cardiac events and previously identified as an independent predictor for mortality at 30 days and 1-year follow-up. There is a need for more data about the problem and the best approach to treat and follow these patients. Materials and methods: We conducted a Prospective Observational Multicentre Cohort Study on patients undergoing elective gastrointestinal surgery in 4 university hospitals. We monitor patients clinically, ECG changes and troponin levels pre-operatively and the first three days post operatively Results: A total of 101 patients (56 Males 45 females) were included. Mean age of participants was 63.87 (SD 14.76) years with normal baseline renal profiles and 184.4 minutes as mean operating time. Troponin elevation was observed in 32 patients; only 4 (3.96%) developed recent changes in ECGs while 3 patients (2.97%) reported chest pain Conclusion: The prevalence of postoperative myocardial injury in our study was 31.68% representing patients with elevated post-op troponin