Objective: To find a better index for detecting myocardial lesion in patients with acute ammonia poisoning.
Methods: Cardiac troponin T (cTnT), creatine kinase (CK), creatine kinase-MB isoenzyme (CK-MB), and electrocardiogram (ECG) were determined and compared in patients with acute ammonia poisoning and healthy controls.
Results: In severe ammonia poisoning patients, the levels of cTnT [(1.285 +/- 2.650) micro g/L], CK [(257.636 +/- 362.719) IU/L], CK-MB [(20.909 +/- 19.770) IU/L] were significantly higher than those in healthy control [(0.035 +/- 0.014) micro g/L, (82.050 +/- 36.302) IU/L, (8.350 +/- 2.455) IU/L respectively, P < 0.05]. The levels of cTnT, CK and CK-MB in mild ammonia poisoning patients [(0.039 +/- 0.016) micro g/L, (78.200 +/- 28.401) IU/L and (8.467 +/- 2.669) IU/L respectively], and moderate ammonia poisoning patients [(0.054 +/- 0.043) micro g/L, (99.786 +/- 71.941) IU/L and (9.429 +/- 3.857) IU/L were not significantly different from those of healthy controls (P > 0.05)]. cTnT positive detection rate (68.2%) was significantly higher than CK (36.4%), CK-MB (31.2%) and ECG (31.2%) (P < 0.05).
Conclusion: cTnT is a better index to detect myocardial lesion in severe ammonia poisoning.