Measurement of High Sensitivity Troponin T in Patients with Early Stage Lyme Disease: Preliminary Evidence for Possible Subclinical Cardiac Involvement

Objective. In patients with early Lyme disease (ELD), cardiac involvement is known to occur in approximately 1% of patients. We measured high-sensitivity troponin T (hsTnT) in patients with early Lyme disease to evaluate the possibility of subclinical cardiac involvement. Methods. We measured hsTnT in 41 patients with well characterized ELD. Results. A total of 6/41 (14.6%) of patients exhibited hsTnT values above either the gender specific or gender neutral 99th percentile cutoff for a normal hsTnT. One patient had a value greater than the cutoff used for acute myocardial infarction. Conclusions. There are many possible explanations for increased hsTnT values in different types of patients in the absence of acute cardiac damage. Nonetheless our results raise the possibility that subclinical cardiac involvement may be more common in ELD than previously recognized. Further studies will be necessary to elucidate the significance of this finding.