Cardiac troponins: Utility in renal insufficiency and end-stage renal disease

Currently available serum markers of cardiac injury in patients with renal insufficiency suffer from impaired sensitivity and specificity. Cardiac troponins (cTnI, cTnT) are relatively new diagnostic markers of myocardial injury and have gained widespread application in the non-renal-failure population to diagnose myocardial infarction. Over the past few years the specificity and sensitivity of cardiac troponins for diagnosing acute myocardial infarction in patients with renal dysfunction have been examined. Most data indicate that cardiac troponin I has an excellent specificity, but until more studies are available this marker should be considered a useful but imperfect serum marker of an acute coronary syndrome in patients with underlying renal dysfunction.