The heart releases vital signs (cardiac enzymes) when there is a lack of oxygen or damage and damage to the heart.
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| Cardiac enzymes: Symptoms, causes, test, types and treatment |
After a heart attack, the levels of troponin and creatinine rise, In addition to a heart attack, elevated heart enzymes may indicate ischemia or acute coronary syndrome. Heart enzyme levels are detected after a blood test by a medical professional.
What are cardiac enzymes?
When the heart is damaged or stressed due to a lack of oxygen, it releases substances into the bloodstream called cardiac enzymes or biomarkers.
What are enzymes?
They are proteins that help the body manage its vital processes by accelerating the metabolism and chemical process. The many types of enzymes include many functions throughout the body, including:
- breathing.
- Digestion Process.
- musculoskeletal movements.
- Blood clotting.
- Excretion of waste through urine.
- Functions of the nerves, spine and brain.
What is a cardiac enzyme test?
is a blood test; A sample of blood is drawn using a thin syringe, and waiting for the result usually takes an hour. It also does not need the person to be fasting.
High levels of the enzyme may indicate a heart attack or other heart health problems.
In this case, the doctor performs an electrocardiogram to help determine the main cause of the elevation.
What does the doctor understand from the heart enzymes test?
Enzyme levels help your doctor know what's causing your symptoms, and whether they're due to heart failure or a myocardial infarction (heart attack), Or other problems such as ischemia, chronic and acute coronary syndrome, or myocarditis and other problems.
Accurate diagnosis of the main cause of high vital signs helps to reach the appropriate treatment according to the case, because each cause is a different treatment method from the other.
Why is the heart enzymes checked?
Doctors go to a blood test to see the levels of vital signs in order to detect the following problems:
- Damage or damage to the heart muscle.
- Heart disease that results in symptoms such as angina, shortness of breath and chest pain.
- Find out how well heart medications and heart surgery work.
What are the types of cardiac enzymes?
Troponin: The heart is the only organ that produces this protein. When there is a high level of troponin in the blood, this basically indicates a problem with the heart muscle, Troponin is released into the blood after a myocardial infarction and remains elevated within 10 days. There are several causes of elevated troponin levels, but the most common problem is myocardial infarction.
Myoglobin: It is one of the proteins released into the bloodstream, which indicates the presence of damage or damage to the muscle tissues of the body in addition to the heart, Its percentage rises within half an hour after the damage occurs, unlike other proteins that need hours to rise.
Creatine kinase: This enzyme is one of the muscle proteins secreted by the heart when myocardial infarction occurs 4 hours later, It remains high in the blood circulation until 3 or 4 days. (This enzyme is produced by various muscles in the body when damage occurs, not just from the heart.)
What is a normal level of cardiac enzymes (troponin)?
In healthy people, this protein is present in a very small percentage in the bloodstream and sometimes not, which is difficult to notice in a normal examination, but when a problem occurs it rises in a large percentage and is easily detected.
The result of troponin is given in ng/ml, the normal ratio includes the following:
- Troponin 1: less than 0.12 ng/ml.
- Troponin T: less than 0.01 ng/ml.
- Cardiac troponin: If the ratio is more than 99, this indicates the presence of a heart attack or damage to the heart muscle.
Levels that are initially high and then decrease indicate a recent heart injury such as a heart attack or damage to the heart muscle.
What are the causes of elevated heart enzymes?
There are several factors that increase the levels of enzymes in the blood, including:
- a heart attack
- Rapid heartbeat.
- Blockage of an artery in the lungs (pulmonary embolism).
- Pulmonary hypertension.
- brain attack.
- Doing previous heart operations such as open heart surgery.
- Kidney disease.
- Severe trauma to the heart muscle, such as a car accident.
- Myocardial insufficiency.
- Myocardial weakness.
- Doing a lot of physical exertion for a long time.
- Acute and chronic coronary syndrome.
- smoking.
What are the symptoms of high heart enzymes?
- Breathing difficulty.
- Sharp pain in the chest.
- Nausea and vomiting.
- Dizziness or imbalance.
- Pain in the shoulders, neck or arms.
- Heavy sweating and cold skin.
- wet skin.
- headache.
Is high heart enzymes dangerous?
Elevated levels of cardiac enzymes (cardiac biomarkers) in the blood are a sign of heart damage, stress or inflammation. Your heart releases these proteins after a heart attack. Your heart may also release cardiac biomarkers when low oxygen levels are causing your heart to work harder than usual.
Therefore, you must follow up on the matter and perform the required tests to solve the problem before greater risks to your life occur.
How to treat high heart enzymes?
The method of treatment varies according to the causes of the elevation. In some cases, the treatment is to take some medications that help lower the level of enzymes and maintain heart health, which are:
- Fluid or anticoagulant, which prevents blockages in the blood vessels.
- Medicines to regulate the heartbeat and make it normal.
- Cholesterol-reducing medications, which increase the incidence of clots.
- Beta receptors and these drugs work to protect the heart from alopecia or damage.
But in cases where medications do not work, surgery is resorted to, through a catheter, which is the introduction of an endoscope that opens the taut arteries, And placing stents to prevent its blockage again, and if this method of treatment is not successful, an open heart operation is performed.
In addition, the doctor gives the patient some necessary tips to maintain heart health and avoid another heart attack, which includes the following:
- Stop smoking and drinking alcohol.
- Do regular exercise.
- Follow a healthy diet to lose weight.
- Avoid stress and anxiety as much as possible.
- Be sure to take medications for chronic diseases regularly, if any.
- It is also possible to rely on alternative treatment, which helps to reduce cholesterol naturally, such as: garlic, pomegranate juice and ginger.
Read: Heart disease and its symptoms