The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Vol 70, 489-494, Copyright © 1975 by The American Association for Thoracic Surgery and The Western Thoracic Surgical Association
Myocardial injury and bypass grafting. Value of serum enzymes in diagnosis
JE Codd, GC Kaiser, RD Wiens, HB Barner and VL Willman
To clarify the value of serum enzymes in the detection of intraoperative
and postoperative myocardial injury associated with coronary artery bypass
grafting, we evaluated 70 consecutive patients (151 grafts). We used
electrocardiograms and serial determinations of serum levels: serum
glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT), creatinine phosphokinase (CPK),
lactic dehydrogenase (LDH), and LDH isoenzymes on Days zero, 1, 3, 5, 7,
and 10. Patency of all grafts 1 week postoperatively was 92 per cent.
Fourteen patients (20 per cent) had ECG evidence of acute myocardial
infarction (AMI) or ischemia lasting longer than 48 hours. This incidence
of AMI was attendant with no deaths or discernible changes in postoperative
ventriculography. LDH- 1 (cardiac fraction) was elevated in all patients
with myocardial injury. Late elevation of LDH-1 occurred in 2 patients at
the time of postoperative catheterization, 1 of whom had negative findings
on ECG. Diagnostic correlation was not observed with total LDH, CPK, or
SGOT. Predisposing factors to AMI included preinfarction angina (4 of 14
patients), occluded grafts (4 of 14), and a bypass time greater than 120
minutes.