The Value of Cardiotrophin-1 in the Diagnosis, Severity, and Prognosis of Pulmonary Embolism

Aim: Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a life-threatening disease that early diagnosis and treatment is life saving.There is still a need for easy and non-invasive alternative biomarkers that can be used to diagnose PE.The purpose of this study was to determine the diagnostic value of CT-1 in patients with acute PE and to analyze whether any relation exists between serum levels and prognosis and severity
Materials and Methods: In this prospective study, the serum CT-1 levels of 165 patients with suspected acute PE were measured.Patients were divided into two groups based on the computed tomography angiography (CTA) results, PE(+) and PE(-) and their serum CT-1 levels were compared.
Results: Median CT-1 values were 4.18 pg/ml (3.57-9.55) in the PE(+) group, and 4.38 pg/ml (3.57-51.64) in the PE(-) group (p=0.08).In the evaluation of CT-1 levels in patients with PE (+) according to the severity of the disease, the median values of CT-1 were 4.19 pg/ml (3.62-5.32) in the intermediate-low risk group, 4.06 (3.57-9.31) pg/ml in the intermediate-high risk group and 5.01 pg/ml (3.89-9.55) in the high risk group(p = 0.001).In terms of clinical course, median CT-1 values were 4.15 (3.57-9.31) in the good clinical course group and 4.53 pg/ml (3.66-9.55) in the poor clinical course group (p=0.004).
Conclusion: CT-1 was not determined to be a useful biochemical marker in the diagnosis of acute PE.However, it has been determined that serum CT-1 levels can be used as a useful biomarker in evaluating the severity and prognosis of patients with pulmonary embolism.
Keywords: Pulmonary embolism, diagnosis, severity, prognosis, Cardiotrophin-1