[Troponins--new markers for the detection of myocardial cell damage]

New biochemical markers for the detection of myocardial cell injury have recently been introduced whose greater sensitivity and specificity as compared with traditional CK and CK-MB determination opens up new diagnostic possibilities. Troponin T and troponin I are proteins of the contractile apparatus. Its cardiac isoforms can be determined by highly specific immunoassays which permit the detection of minimal myocardial cell injury. In clinical routine the determination of troponins can be used to differentiate skeletal from myocardial cell injury, and perioperative myocardial infarctions can be detected with greater reliability. In patients with unstable angina the detection of troponin T is associated with an unfavorable prognosis.