| Abstract: | Background: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) may be associated with subendocardial ischaemia. We investigated whether ischaemia-modified albumin (IMA), an established marker of ischaemia, is elevated in stable patients with PH.Methods: We studied 32 patients with PH and an equal number of age-matched normal volunteers. We assessed serum IMA levels with the albumin cobalt-binding test.Results: Patients’ mean ± SD (range) pulmonary arterial pressure was 56?±?12 (33–73) mmHg and their exercise capacity was 394?±?145 (121–688) m in the 6-min walk test. IMA was 92?±?14 (69–115) U ml?1 in the patient group and 93?±?9.4 (76–122) U ml?1 in the control group with no significant difference between the two (p?=?0.85), although almost one-third of the patients had detectable troponin-I.Conclusions: We conclude that IMA, a marker of ischaemia, does not differ in patients with advanced clinically stable PH compared with normal subjects. |
