Prognosis and troponin relationship in non-cardiac ischemic stroke patients

Background: Various markers such as severity scales, infarct volume and biomarkers were used to predict the stroke prognosis. National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) was reported to be associated with stroke prognosis whereas conflicting statements were present regarding the association of infarct volume. Volume is thought to be unrelated with long term prognosis. Furthermore, troponin which is an important biomarker for myocardial infarction is suggested to be related with stroke prognosis. In this study, we aim to investigate the relationship between factors such as NIHS scale, infarct volume, troponin I and 5 year survival of patients with non-cardiac stroke. Material and Methods: Between January2012 and March 2013, files of patients over 18 years of age with non-cardiac stroke were investigated retrospectively. Death reporting system as a web service given by National Health Ministry (https://obs.gov.tr/) was used to determine the survival status. Data regarding the NIHS score, infarct volume and troponin I levels were acquired. Relationship of those factors with 5-year survival was evaluated statistically. Results: Old age, male gender and NIHS score were independently associated with 5-year survival whereas there was no association between troponin I and infarct volume. Conclusions: We found that troponin I which was reported as it might be associated with long term survival in patients with non-cardiac stroke could not predict 5-year survival. Results were also same for infarct volume. Furthermore, we found that old age and NIHS score can be used to predict the 5-year survival