[Myoglobin: an early indicator of myocardial infarction during heart surgery]

Plasma myoglobin was measured in 40 patients before, during and after cardiac surgery under cardiopulmonary bypass, in order to study its value as an indicator of intra-operative myocardial damage. Myoglobin levels rose at cannulation, further increased during the operation and reached a peak 2 hours later; they began to decrease 6 hours after surgery and were back to normal 24 hours later. Myoglobin levels from induction of the anesthetics to the 6th post-operative hour were significantly higher in the 8 patients who developed intra-operative myocardial infarction than in the other patients. Thus, myoglobin is an early indicator of intra-operative myocardial ischaemia. An abnormal rise of myoglobin at induction of the anesthetics characterizes a group of patients at high risk of myocardial infarction during surgery.