Cardiac markers following cardiac surgery and percutaneous coronary intervention

Differentiation between procedure-related necrosis and postprocedural myocardial infarction (MI) is challenging because of the inherent association of these procedures to varying levels of myocardial injury. To improve risk stratification of patients at risk of an acute MI, the universal definition of MI implemented cardiac biomarker thresholds. The cutoff points for these thresholds, however, are largely arbitrary and lack therapeutic implications. Measurement of cardiac marker concentrations after percutaneous coronary intervention and cardiac surgery should, therefore, be used as a marker of baseline risk, atherosclerosis burden, and procedural complexity rather than a conclusive marker to diagnose acute MI.