High-sensitive troponinT, interleukin-8, and interleukin-6 link with post-surgery risk in infant heart surgery

This study focuses on biomarkers in infants after open heart surgery, and examines the association of high-sensitive troponin T (hs-cTnT), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and interleukin-8 (IL-8) with postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI), ventilatory support time and need of vasoactive drugs.

Secondary exploratory study from a double-blinded clinical randomized trial (Mile-1) on 70 infants undergoing open heart surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). In this sub-study, the entire study population was examined without considering the study drugs. The biomarkers' peak concentration (highest concentration at 2 or 6 h post-CPB) were used for statistical analyses.

Peak IL-8, hs-cTnT, and IL-6 occurred at 2 h post-CPB for 96%, 79%, and 63% of the patients, respectively. The odds ratio of developing AKI2-3 for IL-6 > 293 pg/mL was 23.4 (95% CI 5.3;104.0), for IL-8 > 100 pg/mL it was 11.5 (3.0;44.2), and for hs-cTnT >5597 pg/mL it was 6.1 (1.5; 24.5). In more than two third of the patients with the highest peak concentrations of IL-8, IL-6, and hs-cTnT, there was a need for ventilatory support for >24 h and use of vasoactive drugs at 24 h post-CPB, while in less than one third of the patients with the lowest peak concentrations of IL-8 and hs-cTnT such requirements were observed.

The peak biomarker concentrations and CPB-time strongly predicted AKI2-3, with IL-6 and IL-8 emerging as strongest predictors. Furthermore, our findings suggest that measuring hs-cTnT and IL-8 just 2 h post-CPB-weaning may assist in identifying infants suitable for early extubation and highlight those at risk of prolonged ventilation.