An increasing body of evidence suggests that a postoperative rise in cardiac troponin, even in the absence of other diagnostic criteria for myocardial infarction, is still associated with a range of postoperative complications including myocardial death and all-cause mortality. Myocardial injury after non-cardiac surgery is the term used to describe these cases. The true incidence of myocardial injury after non-cardiac surgery is unknown and likely underestimated. The strength of correlation with postoperative complications is also uncertain as are likely risk factors – though these are likely similar to those for infarction given the similar pathological mechanism. This review article seeks to summarise the literature which has been published over the preceding decades addressing these questions.
Keywords: Infarction, ischaemia, myocardial injury, perioperative, troponin