Assessment of inflammatory factors and cardiac troponin T in hemodialysis patients.

Hemodialysis (HD) patients suffer from chronic inflammations which make them at increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. The purpose of this study was to see if there is a significant association between inflammatory factors such as ferritin and C-reactive protein (CRP) as well as troponin T in patients on HD. We assessed these serum factors as well as other known cardiac risk factors in 53 patients on HD. The serum ferritin and CRP levels were measured by chemiluminescence's immune assay while troponin T levels were measured by electrochemist luminescence immune assay. We found that serum concentrations of CRP and ferritin were not significantly higher in patients on HD with known cardiac risk factors (compared with the control group) (p< 0.05). However, the serum troponin T levels in HD patients with cardiovascular risk factors were significantly higher than the control group. Our study suggests that elevated serum troponin T levels can play an important role as a predictor of cardiovascular disease in HD patients. Also, inflammatory factors such as CRP and ferritin may be influenced by chronic inflammation or nutritional status of these patients.