ReviewArticle Exercise-Induced Cardiac Troponin Release: Irreversible or Reversible Myocardial Cell Damage? Kosit Sribhen, M.D., Dr.Med.,* Choosri Sribhen, Dr. sci.agr.** *Department of Clinical Pathology, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10700, **Department of Physiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand. Siriraj Med J 2012;64:131-135 E-journal: http://www.sirirajmedj.com erforming regular exercise of mild to moderate tions, determined in a reference population, and subsequent intensity has been proven to be beneficial for general fall reflect acute irreversible myocyte damage and necrosis. health and represents an effective tool in the The irreversible cell injury can occur spontaneously after prevention and management of cardiovascular disease. atherosclerotic plaque rupture with subsequent thrombotic PNonetheless, it has been repeatedly reported in recent occlusion, or as a result of the mismatch between blood years that strenuous endurance exercise such as marathon oxygen supply and demand (vasospasm, anemia, arrhyth- running, alpine bicycling and triathlon are associated with mias, hypotension, etc.), as well as after interventional significant release of the cardiac specific markers troponins revascularization procedures (e.g. percutaneous or surgical into the circulation, reflecting myocardial cell damage. The coronary intervention).3 questions thus arise, as to whether exercise-induced cardiac troponin release indicates irreversible or reversible myocyte Models of reversible cell damage damage, and whether the elevated troponins found have Elevated troponin levels above the 99th percentile prognostic significance. These represent topics of great decision limit have been demonstrated in various clinical interest and are of public health concern, as reflected by conditions other than ACS, including acute and chronic an article in the January 2007 issue of The Times as well heart failure, pulmonary embolism, myopericarditis, sepsis as by another in the September 2009 issue of The New and septic shock, as well as acute neurologic diseases (ische- York Times, entitled “Ironman athletes put hearts at risk mic stroke, subarachnoid hemorrhage, epileptic seizure).4-6 of fatal damage, experts warn” and “How do marathons Significant elevations of cardiac troponins have also been affect your heart?”, respectively. The questions also have reported in acute physical or psychological stress.7,8 Due global health relevance since millions of people worldwide to the absence of obstructive coronary arteries in most are actively engaged in endurance exercise events. of these conditions, a non-ischemic cause of troponin increases has been postulated. In this context, results from Definition of irreversible cell damage recent studies have indicated the possibility that in many The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and of these clinical entities the troponins are released into American College of Cardiology Foundation (ACCF) in the circulation from viable and not necrotic myocytes, collaboration with the American Heart Association (AHA) reflecting reversible cell injury. One of the models that and World Health Federation (WHF) jointly released guide- has been intensively used for this study purpose is strenous lines in 2007, stating that cardiac biomarkers, especially endurance exercise. cardiac troponin T (cTnT) and troponin I (cTnI), play a central role in the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction Models of exercise-induced troponin release (AMI), and their measurements provide useful prognostic In the past decades, several studies on the effect of information in acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients.1,2 exercise on cardiac marker releases using currently avail- According to the new guidelines, any detectable rise of able troponin assays have been performed both in animal cardiac troponins above the 99th percentile cut-off concentra- and human models of exercise-induced cardiac injury.8-10 Most of these trials reported transient minimal increases in cardiac troponin concentrations during prolonged endur- ance exercise in a significant number of study subjects.11,12 Correspondence to: Kosit Sribhen However, since most of the current assays showed high Received 25 January 2012 analytical imprecision at the low-range concentrations which Revised 5 July 2012 did not fulfill the recommended guidelines of the interna- Accepted 6 July 2012 tional cardiology societies mentioned above, so they do not Siriraj Med J, Volume 64, Number 4, July-August 2012 131 provide reliable methods for cardiac troponin measure- normal (hs-cTnT) or near-normal range (hs-cTnI) 24 hours ments and for interpretation of cardiac marker test results. after the race, which is in contrast to the prolonged eleva- Another limitation of the conventional assays lies in their tions of more than 1 week observed in irreversible cell inability to provide a sensitive measurement of cardiac damage or necrosis. The transient minimal increases in troponin concentrations which distinguish reversible from cardiac troponin T levels have also been demonstrated in irreversible injury. Thus, the concept of exercise-induced a more recent study on marathon runners using the same reversible cell damage has remained for several decades high-sensitivity immunoassay.20 a controversial issue.13,14 Developments of sophisticated immunoassay systems Role of non-invasive imaging techniques i n r e c e n t y e a r s h a v e l e d t o c a r d i a c m a r k e r t e s t s w i t h Over the past decades, sophisticated imaging tech- improved analytical sensitivity and precision, and mea- niques including dobutamine echocardiography, positon- surements by these ultrasensitive assays have been shown emission tomography (PET), single-photon-emission to produce reliable test results.15,16 Up to date, at least 4 computed tomography (SPECT) and magnetic resonance studies utilizing the new assays have provided data indi- imaging (MRI) have become sensitive tools for detection cating that troponin releases after endurance exercise may of myocardial ischemia and assessment of the viability of reflect reversible myocyte damage. cardiomyocytes.21,22 The new techniques have also been In a study on 15 male non elite runners participat- performed in combination with cardiac troponin tests to ing in the London Marathon (42.2 km) in 2007, Dawson detect cardiac pathology in healthy individuals undergoing et al.,17 reported increases in post-race high-sensitivity endurance exercise. However, there are contradictory cardiac troponin I (hs-cTnI, Siemens Medical Solutions results about the concept of exercise-induced reversible Diagnostics) above the detection limit of the assay (0.006 cell damage. ng/ml) and clinical cut-off level for AMI (0.05 ng/ml) By using SPECT as an indicator of reversible myocar- in 92% and 69% of the runners, respectively. The high dial ischemia, Kurz et al.,23 reported no increase in hs-cTnT prevalence of post race elevations of cardiac troponins (Roche Diagnostics) levels either after brief exercise or was also demonstrated in a study on 10 participants in the pharmacologic stress testing. In contrast, Sabatine et al.,24 Badwater Ultramarathon (216 km), with a mean finishing were able to demonstrate a quantifiable rise in circulating time of 51.2 hours.18 During the race, there was a transient hs-cTnI (Singulex, Inc.) levels in response to stress testing, minimal increase from detectable baseline high-sensitivity and the magnitude of the rise was proportional to the degree cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT, Roche Diagnostics) concen- of ischemia on perfusion imaging (Table 1). The positive trations in most of the runners, with an early peak and a result in the latter study may be related to the higher subsequent fall in some runners indicating minor myocar- analytical sensitivity of cTnI assay used, as compared to dial cell damage. cTnT assay, with the limit of detection of 0.0002 ng/ml Recently, Mingels et al.,19 reported on patterns and 0.002 ng/ml, respectively. with cardiac troponin release observed during the Mass Cardiac MRI, particular when enhanced with gado- Marathon (42.2 km) in the Netherlands using the hs-cTnT linium-based contrast agents, is a powerful clinical tool compared with the conventional troponin T (cTnT, both for characterizing myocardial abnormalities, especially in Roche Diagnostics), and the hs-cTnI (Abbott Diagnostics). patients presenting with chest pain but “normal” coronary All of the pre-ace cTnT were below the limit of detec- arteries.25 The MRI in combination with cardiac marker tests tion (LoD) of the assay, whereas both high-sensitivity are also capable of providing clinically useful information troponin assays were able to measure pre-race troponin in condition such as strenuous exercise. The presence of concentrations in most of the runners. Immediately after a delayed myocardial hyperenhancement on MRI reflects the marathon, there was an approximately 8 to 10 fold irreversible injured myocardium or replacement fibrosis,26 increase from detectable baseline concentrations in both whereas the absence of such enhancement corresponds to of the ultrasensitive troponins and the levels returned to areas of viable myocardium.21 TABLE 1. Clinical trials on non-invasive imaging in association with exercise-induced myocardial cell damage. Author Exercise Troponin Imaging Imaging result (year) event technique Kurz et al. (2008) Bicycling hs-cTnT SPECT Hs-cTnT did not increase after reversible