Objective: To investigate the release of cardiac biomarkers (troponin I and CK-MB) in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) with or without cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB).
Design: Prospective study.
Setting: University tertiary hospital.
Participants: Sixty-five consecutive patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (>or=2 vessel disease, ejection fraction >or=0.35%, elective procedure).
Interventions: Cardiac biomarkers were measured before surgery, at intensive care unit arrival, 4 and 18 hours after the end of the procedure.
Measurements and main results: Cardiac biomarker release was higher in on-pump than in off-pump patients at every time point. On multivariate analysis, CPB (p < 0.0001), number of distal grafts (p = 0.005), and hypertension treatment (p = 0.03) were the only independent predictors of peak cardiac troponin release.
Conclusions: Cardiac troponin I release after multivessel CABG is associated with the technique. Different values for the normal range should be considered. OPCABG is minimally invasive for the heart as far as myocardial marker release is concerned.